Welcome
by BeSiriusForOnce
Summary: James, Sirius, Remus and Marlene are being sent to Mr and Mrs Evans' house because of the danger of Death Eaters attacking them in Potter Manor, but they couldn't have come at a more exciting and curious time...
1. Chapter 1- Beginnings

**Hey there! So, this is my new version of my story on Wattpad 'Under The Radar', I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"Marlene!" Ophelia Evans greeted her with a grin and a warm hug.

"Hey Mrs E! Nice to see you again," Marlene wheezed.

"Thank you dear, you as well," Mrs Evans smiled as she released her.

"Where's Lily?" Marlene asked.

"… She's… who are these people?" Mrs Evans asked, confused, s she spotted the three tall figures standing behind Marlene.

"Oh, Mrs E, this is James, Sirius and Remus, they go to school with Lily and I," Marlene smiled.

"Oh! Good morning! I've heard a lot about you three, Vanessa won't stop going on about her son and his friends."

"Nothing from Lily?" Remus asked.

"She has had other things on her mind as of late," Mrs Evans sighed.

"Where is she?" Marlene asked, concern and worry hinting at her voice.

"She's alright Marlene, though I'm not sure if it's the best time for you to have arrived."

"How about we put our stuff in my room and you can take us to her?" Marlene suggested, still slightly worried.

"… All right, come in," Mrs Evans sighed.

The four teenagers walked through the open doorway, Marlene took the lead and led the other three towards her room, Mrs Evans following them from behind.

"She's outside." Mrs Evans sighed as they all looked at her expectantly.

"Aren't you going to come?" Marlene asked.

"No, just follow the path into the forest, you'll know when you're there," Mrs Evans smiled before she walked off.

"All right then, let's go catch us a Lily," Marlene grinned as they set off towards the backyard.

Now, about two or so years ago the Evans' moved houses, out of the city and into the country for reasons unspecified, they now lived in a large two-story house with a property of 46 acres, about half of this was consumed by forest. No one knew why the Evans' picked this particular place except them, not even Marlene knew.

So when Mrs Evans told them that they should go into the forest, Marlene was quite concerned.

They walked in silence until they reached the very edge of the forest, all feeling quite different things.

Marlene was slightly panicking, what was wrong with her best friend?

James was wondering what the hell was going on.

Remus was intrigued as to what Lily was doing in a forest.

And Sirius was excited to just explore the forest.

"What do you suppose is wrong with her?" Remus voiced this eventually.

"I don't know, but we're going to find out," Marlene answered before she took a deep breath and took a step into the dark looking forest.

"Oh my Merlin… guys! You have to see this!" Marlene gaped at the forest around her; no longer was it dark and dank, but lively and vivid.

"What is it?" Remus asked before he stepped into the forest as well.

"Oh my…"

"Okay, **what** is so… woah…" Sirius blinked as he followed them.

James watched curiously before he too stepped into the forest and was taken away by its dramatic change.

"There must be a charm on it," Marlene broke the silence after about five minutes.

"Definitely," Remus nodded in confirmation.

"Let's keep going then," James took the lead.

* * *

"I think we found it," Sirius noted as they reached a large clearing after about half an hour.

About five metres into the clearing there was large, elaborate gate and a tall fence. Intricate designs adorned the metal framework of the gate and fence, making a shielding work of art.

Next to the gate there was a small wooden hut with vines covering it on all sides.

They stood there for a while until Sirius snapped out of it and took a step into the clearing.

Immediately after he did a stag bigger than any of them had ever seen walked out of the hut, embellished in gleaming silver armour covering its face, neck and chest.

The stag stood like a guardian in front of the gate, eyes fixed on the small group of teenagers.

"What should we do?" Remus whispered.

"It looks like a guardian, maybe it'll let us in," Marlene shrugged.

"You and Remus maybe, but us? No way," Sirius snorted.

"We could try."

"Sure," James rolled his eyes before they walked up to the stag.

"Er… hi Mr Stag, could you please let us pass?" Marlene asked.

"I'm sorry Marlene, Lily said that no one was to enter," the stag said apologetically.

"… I'm sorry, _**what**_?"

"Yes Marlene, I can talk," the stag chuckled.

"… W-what's your name?" she stuttered, still processing that fact that he could talk.

"My name is Aiden."

"All right, we'll just go then," Marlene nodded slowly, a dumbstruck look on her face before she, James, Sirius and Remus walked away.

"Did you find her?" Mrs Evans asked as they walked into the living room, where she was reading quietly.

"No, a stag wouldn't let us in," Remus said slowly, still not fully understanding it.

"That is it! I'm coming with you!"

"What's wrong?" Marlene asked immediately.

"I haven't seen my daughter in almost seven days, she's in suspended animation."

"_Suspended _**what**?" Sirius asked.

But Mrs Evans was already gone.

* * *

"Aiden!"

"_Mum_?" Aiden gaped, still standing in his place in front of the gate.

"MUM?" Marlene, Remus, James and Sirius yelled in surprise.

"That's right Mister! Now let me in!"

"Lily said no visitors," Aiden winced.

"Did she now?" Mrs Evans narrowed her eyes.

"Mum… I'm not allowed to let you in."

"Aiden James! I demand you let me in this instant!" Mrs Evans placed her hands on her hips.

"Lily-"

"What Lily said or did has no power anymore! It's been six days! She needs food and water or she's going to die!" Mrs Evans was almost hysterical.

"… I'll get her," Aiden sighed before he reared up and stamped the ground with his front hooves, causing the gate to open.

"That's amazing," Remus whispered as Aiden walked through the open gateway, the gates closing as he did so.  
"_Mum_?" Sirius gaped at Mrs Evans.

"Not by blood, Sirius," Mrs Evans chuckled.

"That makes a _**lot **_more sense."

"_**LILY**_!" Marlene cried as the gates opened once more, revealing Aiden carrying the unconscious Lily in his large silver antlers.

"Careful," Aiden warned, "she's fragile."

And she was, her ribs were showing through her tank top and her face was shallow, bones were being revealed underneath skin everywhere on her body.

"We'll get her back home, come on Marlene," Mrs Evans said soothingly, motioning for them all to leave the forest.

"What's wrong with her?" Marlene whimpered.

"Lack of water, food and sleep," Aiden answered as he walked passed carefully, balancing Lily in his antlers.

"Is it wise to let him carry her?" Remus asked.

"Yes… where are you going Aiden?" Mrs Evans asked as the stag in question walked back over to the small hut.

Aiden didn't answer but instead walked inside, coming out moments later with a vacant eyed doe half his size.

"Of course," Mrs Evans said understandingly, walking over to the doe.

"Come on Lilac, we're going," she said gently, tapping her on her hind leg lightly

Aiden started to move again and this time Lilac followed him, Mrs Evans trailing sadly behind her with the teenagers following her with confusion.

"Just place her down here Aiden," Mrs Evans nodded, placing a hand on Lilac's chest to make her stop.

Aiden did as she said and placed Lily on the backyard table.

"Wake up Lily," Mrs Evans shook Lily's shoulders ever so slightly.

"Hm… what?" Lily mumbled, eyes fluttering open to reveal white eyeballs.

"You've got guests," Aiden nudged her shoulder as she sat up.

"Aiden?"

"Yeah," he chuckled.

"Where's Lilac?"

"She's right her, dear," Mrs Evans said gently, tapping Lilac's leg again so she walked forwards.

"Has there been any improvement?" she asked as she wrapped her arms around the doe's neck.

"No," Aiden sighed.

At that moment Lily's eyes returned to her and she blinked a couple of times to readjust.

"I'm sorry little sister," Lily 's eyes brimmed with tears.

"She can't hear you Lily," Mrs Evans shook her head sadly, blinking back her own tears.

"She might be able to…"

"She can't," Aiden shook his head.

"Lily, your guests?" Mrs Evans reminded her.

"Right…" Lily let go of Lilac and turned around.

"Mar!" Lily grinned weakly.

"Hey Lil."

"… I'm too tired for this," Lily groaned as she spotted the other three teenagers.

"You're getting food and water before that Lily," Mrs Evans said sternly.

"I'm fine mum, you should be focussing on helping get my brother back."

"Not to sound insensitive here, but… since when have you had a brother?" Marlene butted in.

"I actually have six brothers and four sisters, including Petunia, and there were two in first year, four in second, and six in third," Lily chuckled hoarsely.

"And how come we never knew about this?" Marlene laughed.

"They were evil," Lily grinned weakly.

"Excuse me?" Aiden asked, affronted.

"You and Lilac were probably the worst!" Lily laughed.

"Good times."

"Freaky boy," Lily teased.

"I'm not a boy!"

"Aiden, you're only three," Lily snorted.

"I'm seventeen and you know it," Aiden scowled.

"You're still so easy to wind up," Lily laughed getting off the table.

Aiden just grunted in response.

"Mar… can you stop me from falling?" Lily asked as she took a cautious step forwards.

"Sure."

"Thanks."

"I bought beef, pork, lamb and venison, don't tell Aiden," Mrs Evans chuckled.

"Thanks mum," Lily smiled as she sat down on one of the wooden stools.

"So, Lily, are there any other relatives you would like to tell us about?" Remus chuckled.

"No, just my siblings."

"Are your brothers cute?" Marlene asked, trying to defuse the tension.

"I guess," Lily shrugged.

"What're their names?"

"Ziff's the oldest, then Oliver, then Max, then Canis, then Aiden, and finally Cale," Lily's tone was despondent.

"What about your other sisters?"

"Cecilia, Lilac and Zee."

"Your family have quite interesting names Lily," Sirius commented.

"Tell me about it," she chuckled humourlessly as her mother started to cook her five meats and vegetables.

"So when do we get to meet the rest of them?" Marlene asked excitedly.

"Never," Lily closed her eyes.

"Why?"

"… Long ago, there was a girl, the most beautiful girl you'd ever see, she had four sisters, three loved her, and the other hated her. She was loyal, compassionate and kind, anything you ever wanted to be, but most of all, she was innocent.

"She cared for her eight brothers and sisters deeply, no matter what. But, one day, she met a lion.

"Now, this lion wasn't much when she met him, a bit scruffy and scrawny, but within the second she saw him, she knew she loved him, and the feeling was mutual.

"I didn't like the fact that they were dating, so, I didn't let her see him, but they didn't care, they snuck around my rules for two years until I let them be together.

"It was the biggest mistake I'd ever made, within the week they were married and within about another two months or so she was pregnant," Lily sucked in a breath, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks in rivers.

"They were happy, and their happiness was infectious, I couldn't help it, another of my great mistakes.

"Then, about four months into the pregnancy, he was called in on an emergency, leaving her all alone, no one to protect her, that's when they struck, they cast some sort of spell on her or gave her some sort of poison, we didn't know, we still don't, either way it caused some form of paralysation, it started in her toes, before it slowly but surely crept up to her knees, making her a paraplegic, but by the time it was there they baby was due.

"We don't know anything about what happened there other than the little scraps he told us, but the conclusion of it all is always the same… she… she… _died_," Lily whispered.

"He thought we deserved to her it from him and not from a letter, so he visited us with my two little nieces and told us. That was almost a year ago, we haven't seen them since."

"Oh my… Lily, I'm so sorry," Marlene whispered, hands over her mouth.

"I sent him so many letters, all came back unopened."

"What happened to the others?" Sirius asked quietly.

"Lilac's brain collapsed upon itself, she hasn't spoken a word since, Zee ran away, she couldn't bare it, Max, Oliver, Ziff and Canis chased after her, leaving Aiden and I alone."

"… Do you know their names?" James asked gently.

"Kira and Mikayla, Kira looks just like Cale, while Mikayla is a carbon copy of Cecilia,"

"Here you go Lily," Mrs Evans said softly, putting a mound of food in front of Lily.

"I'm not hungry anymore," she pushed it away.

"Lily, you have to eat."

"I'll survive another day."

"No, you won't," another voice rang through the kitchen, causing Lily to freeze in her place.

"… _Cale_?" Mrs Evans gasped.

"Hello mother."

"Grandma!" two little lionesses peeked out from behind their father's legs.

"Cale… what in god's name happened to you?" Lily stared.

Parts of his fur were falling out, he was missing his right front leg and his hind left, scars raked across his back, face and neck, and one eye was permanently shut.

"There is no rest for the wicked, Lily, you of all people should know that."

"… Come here."

Cale begrudgingly moved over to her, with great difficulty, so he was standing by her side.

Lily placed a hand on his head and mist started to swirl around them. But slowly and surely, his wounds and scars started to heal; even his legs, eye and fur grew back so he was once again the lion from all that time ago.

"Daddy!" Kira and Mikayla squealed as Mrs Evans picked them up and began to tickle them.

"One minute," Lily held up a finger as she lifted up the new front leg so the pad was facing up.

"It's still there," she whispered.

"It was on my back leg before," Cale grunted.

"Interesting…"

"Now eat before you die and screw us all up," he scowled.

"You know I won't die like that, I'll die the way she did."

"And why is this?" Remus butted in.

"Not yet Wolf-Boy," Cale snarled.

"Cale!" Lily snapped.

"What happened to you Lily? You used to be more."

"Yeah, well, when you find out how you're going to die, it kind of ruins life for you."

"Not that, you used to have more… fight."

"It had to go."

"Why?"

"Why do you think?"

"Daddy!" Kira and Mikayla giggled.

"Let them down mum."

"Oh, you're no fun."

"I don't need to be."

"Okay, who are you and what have you done to my brother?" Lily snarled, her voice not as hollow and she seemed somehow healthier than she had been only moments ago.

"_Fun_ isn't a need, it's a want, and I do not use, take or make anything I don't _need_. I had what I needed but I still wanted, and the penalty for my want was my need's death."

"This might not be what you need, but it is what your children need, it's what **all **children need, Cale."

"… Maybe you're right, but you still can't honestly tell me you know."

"I gave up all my chances so you could all have yours, and, I don't honestly want to be in love, it's just another term for sweet death."

"Kira, Mikayla, go find your uncle," Cale said firmly.

"Aw!" they whined.

"Come on, go."

"Bye grandma!" they grinned toothy grins before they raced each other out the door.

"… Take care of them."

"You are not leaving! You've left us that many times Cale!" Lily screeched, tears beginning to run down her face.

"You still don't get it, I shouldn't be living right now."

"Your spirit sure isn't."

"I have no mirrors in my house, nothing that even makes a reflection, I have no photos, and Kira and Mikayla are not allowed to transform, and do you know why, because if I don't see anything to do with her I can live with myself. You don't know anything about what happened on that night Lily."

"Then tell me."

"You want to know? Fine, she died in my bloody arms Lily! I held her and **watched** as the life drained from her eyes! That's why I was covered in blood when I visited you, it was _her_ blood Lily, and I was bloody **covered** in it!" Cale yelled, a slightly hysterical tone underneath the anger.

Lily let out a tiny gasp and slowly covered her mouth with her hands.

"I-I didn't know," she whispered through her hands.

"Of course you didn't, I made sure of that."

"… You're still not leaving."

"Who said I was?"

"…"

"I'm going to go visit her."

"Can you take Lilac with you?"

"Why?"  
"Follow me and you'll find out," Lily answered sadly as she walked out of the room.

"What's wrong with her? Why is she just standing there?" Cale asked, confused, as he spotted Lilac standing perfectly still in the corner of the room while a human Aiden was playing with the two lioness cubs.

"Her brain collapsed."

"Merlin… I should have stayed," Cale sighed.

"Baby brother!" Aiden finally noticed Cale and launched himself at the lion, making them both go for a tumble out into the hallway.

"How many times have I told you not to call me that?" Cale scowled as Aiden stood up.

"Enough for me not to care."

"… You never care though."

"Exactly!"

"I remember you being a lot more… passive aggressive and snide," Cale cocked his head.

"Yeah, well, when everyone else left I had to change," Aiden sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"… When was the last time you saw someone other than, Lily, Lilac, Petunia, mum or dad?" Cale asked curiously.

"Well… today's Tuesday so… since the day Cecilia passed," Aiden winced.

"Seriously? You haven't even gotten a letter?"

Aiden shook his head in a defeated no and Cale winced.

"Wow… I had no idea."

"You haven't really stuck around all that much have you?" Aiden narrowed his eyes.

"That's the you I'm used to," Cale winced again.

"You're right… and now that you're here I can go and hunt for Zee as well! You can take care of Lilac!"

"No way."

"Uh… Aiden?" Lily called.

"Yes Lilykins?"

"What did you give them?"

"Just some sugar… why?"

"They seem a lot older than almost one…"

Cale snorted and Aiden grinned at him, knowing full well what he had done.

"Aiden, they look about four!"

"Oh yeah, they bored me, so I thought four might be a more fun age," he shrugged nonchalantly.

"You are so strange, why do I even call you my brother?"

"Because you love saying that your brother's drop-dead sexy."

"That is so not the reason," Lily laughed.

"Sure it isn't," Aiden smirked.

Lily rolled her eyes fondly at him while Cale just watched on with a slightly amused expression.

"Daddy! Look what Uncle Aiden taught us!" Mikayla giggled.

The moment Cale's head turned to face them he had to beat down the cry of anguish that accompanied the sight.

"I told you not to show him!" Aiden scowled.

"Let's go show grandma!" Kira raced out the door, Mikayla following quickly after.

"NO!" Lily yelled, scrambling after them.

"KIRA! MIKIE! DON'T!"

"What in Merlin's name?" Marlene's voice rang out as Kira, Mikayla and Lily ran into the kitchen.

"Um… heh heh… surprise?" Lily winced.

"Why do they look like you and James?" Remus gaped.

"Yeah about that-" Aiden and Cale tumbled through the door, cutting off Lily.

"What is going on?"

"Good one Aiden," Lily glared.

"Hey!"

"You _did_ teach them," Cale scowled.

"You shut up."

Cale scoffed and Aiden kicked him lightly.

"Um, **hello**? Explain before Prongs has a heart attack," Sirius interrupted.

"Later, we lost Lilac."

"_**What**_?" Lily gaped.

"She was there, and then she wasn't!"

"You sound like Max," Cale pointed out.

"OI!" Marlene yelled.

"Right, well… um… Lily can explain," Aiden said awkwardly.

"No, Cale can explain!"

"OI! I haven't got time for that! Aiden can explain it **is** his fault."

"I'll explain," Mrs Evans sighed wearily.

"Fine by me!" Lily, Cale and Aiden chorused.

"Why don't you try and contact the others, get it all over with?" Mrs Evans suggested.

"We've tried."

"I got a letter saying they'd be in the house today if you wanted to see them," Mrs Evans shrugged.

"You're not joking?" Aiden asked suspiciously.

"Why would I be?" Mrs Evans raised an eyebrow.

"Come on you lot! We're off to meet the rest of the family!" Aiden grinned before he disappeared.

"Idiot," Lily muttered.

"I heard that Lil," Aiden's head appeared in front of her before it disappeared again.

"Kira, Mikayla," Cale nodded.

"See you soon!" they waved as they climbed up onto Cale's back and he disapperated.

"I'll take two now and come back for the other three after, any volunteers?" Lily asked excitedly.

"Prongs and I'll go," Sirius smirked.

"Even you can't ruin this Black," Lily clapped her hands together as she grabbed their hands and disapperated, coming back for the others immediately.

"Aiden! Put them down!" Lily scolded the stag that was carrying a laughing wolf and dog in his antlers.

"Well forgive me for being happy! I've had to put up with only you for a year!" Aiden laughed as the two animals jumped off his antlers.

"I'm choosing to ignore that highly offensive comment," Lily laughed as the wolf and dog pounced on her yelling out:

"TIGER LILY!"

"I missed you two as well," Lily chuckled as they licked her face.

"And what about us Tig?" a voice called from the manor door.

"Oh I don't know, Canis, you can be an awful pain in my ass," Lily chuckled at the two lions as they ran to her.

"What about me?" the other lion pouted.

"I guess I missed you, Ziff," Lily grinned.

"Mum! Tell Lily she missed me too!" Canis whined.

"Of course she did," Mrs Evans chuckled.

"What about you? Did you miss us?" they all squashed up and grinned widely at her.

"How could I not miss my oldest boys?"

"What about me?" Aiden cried.

"I've only had you to talk too for almost a year Aiden, and you can get awfully annoying."

"Hey! I'll have you know I'm practising!" Aiden huffed indignantly, morphing so his torso and above was human while below was stag.

"For what?"

"For when… is that Kira?" Aiden's brow furrowed in confusion as he spotted said toddler on the roof.

"Sweet Jesus… what the hell is she doing up there?"

"Well… you said she was just like her father," Aiden reminded her.

"I didn't mean it literally!" Lily fretted.

"Why don't you just go up there and save her?" Aiden asked.

"I can't," she muttered.

"Why?"

"I'm too out of practise."

"Well we'll have to fix that, but, in the mean time, look who we finally found," Max's eyes glimmered with excitement as Oliver howled and the front door opened again, revealing a redheaded girl.

"Oh my god… ZEE!" Lily sprinted up to her look alike and tackled her into a bear hug.

"Hello Lily," Zee wheezed.

"I missed you _**so**_ much!"

"I can't breathe!"

"Yeah, I'm just going to borrow this since you're not going to go save our niece from falling to her death," Aiden rolled his eyes as he placed a hand on Zee's shoulder and mist swirled from her into him before he took his hand away and flew off to save Kira with the pair of dragon wings he'd stolen from her.

"OI! Give those back you prick!" a pair of eagle wings fit for her current size erupted from her back and she shot up into the sky to chase Aiden, who had just plucked the giggling Kira off the room and was currently heading towards the rest of the group.

"Scratch that Kiz, we're being tailed by an evil villain!" Aiden grinned as they flew over the others and into the surrounding lively forest.

"AIDEN!" Zee screamed in irritation.

"What was that Zee?" Aiden called over his shoulder as he weaved through the trees.

"I HATE YOU!"

"Love you too!"

Zee screamed out of frustration and increased her speed in an attempt to catch him.

"Was it always like this?" Sirius asked, amused.

"Yes, but between Lilac and Aiden instead of Zee and Aiden," Lily began to massage her temples.

"Hold this!" Aiden flew passed and dropped the giggling Kira into Lily's arms.

"… Aiden!"

"I'll take her Lily," Oliver chuckled.

"Oh! I'm coming too!" Max grinned.

"Do you two even know where Cale is?" Lily questioned.

"Of course we don't!" Canis scoffed.

"How comforting," Lily muttered before they morphed into their human forms and she handed the toddler over to Oliver.

"MERLIN! MOONY! THERE'RE TWO OF US!" Sirius leapt into Remus's arms.

"Sweet Merlin…" Remus whispered, dropping Sirius and looking at the two carbon copies of himself with fascination.

"I haven't seen you in about five years, Remus… you're not as scrawny as I remember," Ziff scrunched up his face in thought.

"You've met me before?"

"Of course we have! Hasn't Lily told you about us?" Oliver cocked his head.

"No…"

"LILY!"

"What?"

"You're an idiot."

"Excuse me?"

"Anyway, Remus, we _are_ you," Oliver said.

"Parts of you to be specific," Ziff butted in.

"We're Sirius!" Max and Canis chorused.

"Cale and Aiden are James, and Lilac, Zee and Cecilia are me," Lily winced.


	2. Chapter 2- So let me get this straight-

"Please, someone explain the madness!" Marlene cried.

"After we find Cale and Mikayla," Lily sighed as she began to walk towards the house.

"Cale! Come out!" Lily called as she wandered through the manor.

"He's not here Lily," Mrs Evans sighed.

"He better be," Lily hissed.

"Aunty Lily!" Mikayla giggled as she ran towards said aunt.

"… AIDEN!" Lily roared.

"You called Tig?" he poked his head around the corner, smirking.

"Stop aging them!"

"I swear this'll be the last time… for awhile anyway."

"It better be," Lily narrowed her eyes.

"That _is_ what I just said."

"Please do us all a favour and shut up," Lily scowled.

"Now how would that be a favour? I know you love the sound of my voice Tigger," Aiden slung an arm around Lily's shoulders, smirking.

"It's one of the most dreadful sounds on the planet actually, next to fingernails on a chalkboard," Lily said dryly.

"Ouch, your words wound me more than any sword could ever," Aiden rolled his eyes.

"What was that? _Sarcasm_? Coming from _Aiden_? I must be dreaming," Lily scoffed, hiding her smirk.

"And here I was thinking you were nice."

"Har har."

"You're an idiot Lil," Aiden chuckled before he left.

"OI! Come back here, brain-fat!"

"_Brain-fat_?"

"He's the fat part of the brain," Mrs Evans translated calmly.

"But brains can't have fat…" Remus said, confused.

"I know, but she can imagine."

"CALE, GET OUT HERE AND HELP ME FIND YOU!"

"Mikayla, where's your father?" Mrs Evans asked the seven year old.  
"He said he was going somewhere with Aunt Lilac," Mikayla shrugged.

"Phew! I thought it was something else!" Lily wiped her forehead dramatically.

"LILY!" Aiden ran around the corner and jumped into Lily's arms.

"What now?"

"SAVE ME!"

"From what?"

"From- IT'S HER!"

"Aiden that is your seven year old niece," Lily scoffed, dumping him on the floor.

"But she's pure evil. Look at those beady little eyes! EVIL!"

"Aunt Lily! Uncle Aiden was bullying me!" Kira started to sob.

"AIDEN!"

"What- no! Never! SHE LIES!"

Kira was full on crying now and Lily rushed over to pick her up and soothe her.

When Lily couldn't see Kira smirked at Aiden and he narrowed his eyes as if saying: 'You messed with the wrong idiot, kid. It. Is. ON!'

"Two can play that game!" Aiden declared before he transformed himself into a seven year old as well.

"Oi! If we're doing this we want in," Canis, Ziff, Oliver and Max narrowed their eyes.

"_**WHAT**_?" Remus and Sirius spluttered.  
"We used to bet on who could push Lily over the edge," Aiden rubbed his tiny hands together maliciously before he transformed the others into the same age as himself, Mikayla and Kira.

"You were so adorable!' Marlene cooed as she picked up little Ziff.

"Yeah, what happened?"

"We got sexy," Aiden smirked.

"You know, sexy isn't really a word fitting for a seven year old, Aiden," Lily scoffed.

"Or is it?"

"It's not."

"Or _is_ it?"

"It's not."

"Or **is** it?"

"No, it is not, Aiden."

"Or-"

"NO!"

"Jeez, keep your hair on!"

"Aunty Lily?"

"Yes Mikie?"

"Where did daddy and Aunt Lilac go?"

"He went to visit someone, Mikie," Lily said softly.

"Who?"

"… An old friend."

"Alright," Mikayla nodded before she ran off to go play with Kira and their uncles.

"Why didn't she ask who exactly? That's what I would've done," Marlene said in confusion.

"I told you, she's a carbon copy of Cecilia," Lily smiled sadly at the seven year old in question.

"Anyway! Since you'll be living with us for however long it is, it's important we set some ground rules, this applies to you lot as well," Lily added, seeing the smirks of the younger half of the group.

"Damn."

"I'm going to go now, see you soon Lily," Mrs Evans grinned before she began to walk away.

"Wait, how're you getting back?" Marlene asked.  
"This place is in our forest," Mrs Evans replied.

"You're kidding," Marlene sighed.

Mrs Evans chuckled one final time before she left.

"Okay! Rule number one: no one, _**no one**_, is to go into someone else's room without permission, understand?"

"Yes, Lily."

"Good, rule two: stay away from Aiden, I'm fairly sure he has some sort of mental issue. Rule three: stay away from Zee; I _know_ she's not right at the moment. Rule four: no one is to go into the basement without my consent or unless it's an emergency. Finally, rule five: curfew starts at eleven and ends at three thirty the following morning. Anyone who disobeys these rules will face the punishment," Lily said seriously.

"And what would that be, Evans?" Sirius asked.

"Kira, Mikayla, Oliver, Max, Canis, Ziff, go."

"Au revoir."  
"Don't leave me!"

"Aiden, get off the floor."

"Yes, _ma'am_."

Lily snorted as he got up and aged himself back to seventeen and morphed into his deer-satyr.

Lily rolled her eyes again before she cast a non-verbal spell on him, causing his eyes to go vacant for a moment before they returned with a smirk in them.

"Disobey them and I will not be afraid to kill you."

"Prongs wouldn't-"

"But I'm not Prongs am I? Listen Black, you know nothing about me, or about my family, you only know about yours, and let me tell you now, we are nothing alike."

"Aiden," Lily growled.

"Fine, fine," Aiden put his arms up before he walked away.

"What was that?" Marlene asked after a long minute.

"Uh… Aiden's a bit different to everyone else, no idea why though, must be something to do with the thing in fifth year," Lily mused.

"Strange, because nothing's wrong with Max, other than the obvious."

"LILY!" Ziff raced around the corner as fast as his little legs could carry him.

"What?" she asked suspiciously.

"We lost Zee again!"

"Oh for Merlin's sake!"

"It was an accident!"

"Well go find her!"

"We can't!"

"_Why_?"

"Because we lost Aiden too!"

"I know where this is going, tell Oliver he's in charge while I'm gone," Lily sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in irritation.

"Lily, you might want to hold the search of until you can switch fluently again," Ziff suggested.

"Point taken, but if I leave now they're still close," Lily pointed out.

"But still, you really think you can outrun them without shifting?" Ziff raised an eyebrow.

"… You know… you're really annoying."

"Thank you," Ziff grinned before he raced off again.

"Come on Lilac, just a little further," Cale encouraged the doe, not caring that she couldn't hear him.

"That's it, just here," he whispered as they reached the tombstone.

Lilac stopped the moment before she trod on the grave that Cale was looking at sadly.

"Hey," he whispered after a few minutes.

"I know you can't hear me, but I just wanted you to know that they turned out to be every bit as brilliant as you were. Kira takes after James more than me I'd say, but Mikayla is all you. Funny really, this is the first time I've visited both you and the rest of the family since you died. I'm sorry I didn't come to your funeral, but I just couldn't bear to see you being lowered into the ground, never to be seen again, and I know that my last memory of you wasn't the greatest either, but I guess if I watched, it made it even more real, and I didn't want that, I wanted this to be a bad dream, that I'd wake up with you in my arms once again. I needed you here with me, Cecilia, I needed you to help me raise them, but the only person I can blame for this is myself, you didn't know that those Rogues would come, I shouldn't have left you on your own, I should've stayed, I knew how much danger you were in even before, and the risk only intensified when you were pregnant, because you couldn't change forms, it left you extremely vulnerable and I knew that, yet I still left you on your own… I'm so sorry," a lone tear leaked out of Cale's right eye and fell onto the grave, "I would've given my life for you Cecilia, but it turned out to be the other way around."

Cale and Lilac stood there for a long time, just looking at the grave, not saying anything, not doing anything other than looking, not thinking.

"This is a seriously bad idea, Aiden," Zee snorted as they sprinted through the trees as deer.

"No it's not."

"Which part of going to find Cale is a good idea?"

"All of it."

"He is going to rip your head off!" Zee cackled.

"Not before I knock some sense into him," Aiden said angrily.

"I don't know if you remember, but you're weaker than me at the moment, you haven't had any training for almost a year, AIDS," Zee smirked.

Aiden stopped in his tracks and Zee's smirk widened.  
"You're right, c'mon, we're going back," Aiden said before he disapperated.

"I love being smart," Zee laughed wickedly before she disapperated as well.

"Quick! Over here!" Aiden hissed, beckoning Zee to follow him as he stood by the basement doors.

Zee quickly ran over, morphing back to herself as she reached him.

"Now what? The doors are locked genius," Zee snarled.

"You really have been away too long," Aiden smirked.

In a flash of light his body was no longer solid, but made completely of the wispy Patronus mist.

"Twat," Zee scowled before she did the same, only she wasn't made of Patronus mist, but was see through and misty.

Aiden rolled his eyes before he walked right through the doors, Zee following him moments later.

"I forgot what it looked like," Zee grinned as their bodies changed back to solid.

Aiden grunted in response and walked over to the large wooden cabinet on the opposite side of the room.

"Get me a… rapier," Zee smirked.

"So, let me get this straight," Remus said cautiously, "You're a shape-shifter, but you can't shift because you're too out of practise, and you stole-"

"_Borrowed_," Lily stressed the word.

"And you _borrowed_ our spirits?"

"No, I borrowed two _parts_ of your spirit, the Gryffindor and the Patronus, I didn't take the whole thing," Lily corrected.

"Right, and how did you do this?"  
"It's complicated Remus, I have to focus on extracting only one of the thirds of the spirit at one time, it's really dangerous as well, I could kill you doing this, and I could kill myself with the effort."

"Then why did you?" Marlene asked.

"Let's go back a little shall we? Before this I was the Head of the Shape-shifters, and it was considered a felony for any shape-shifter to not have spirits to do their bidding, so, I had to," Lily sighed.

"But you treat them like family, not slaves," Sirius cocked his head.

"Yes, I'm the only one who does that, all the others treat the spirits they took like Slytherins treat House Elves, they were lucky."

"Lily!" Max pounced on her.  
"What?"  
"They're in the basement!"

"Why would they come back?"

"Well, it could have something to do with the fact that he hasn't trained for a year, maybe?" Max raised an eyebrow.

"Oh shut up," Lily shoved him off before she stood up.

"Aiden James! Zee Lily!" Lily stormed into the basement where Zee was currently trying to behead Aiden.  
They didn't stop and Lily started to get irritated.

"I'm warning you two!"

Nothing.

"That's it!" Lily stormed over to the cabinet and pulled out two twin daggers.  
"ZEE! AIDEN! STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!" Lily yelled as she approached the two, daggers at the ready.

"Why?" Zee asked innocently, "We're just training."

"Are you forgetting who we have here at the moment?" Lily hissed.  
"Whatever, I'm done here anyway," Zee scoffed, disarming Aiden before she left.

"You're seriously out of practise huh?" Lily asked as Aiden sat down.

"You think?"

"I was just saying…"

"I know."

"Alright, something's bugging you, and until you say something you'll be foul, so just tell me now," Aiden said suspiciously as he eyed Lily.

"It's just… why are you always so… so…" Lily trailed off.

"So deranged?"

"I would've used the word 'difficult', but whatever," Lily shrugged.

"This is where all the hurt, anger, etc. goes when you reject him, s'why I can't be in love, because until you stop hating him and start loving him I'll be like this," Aiden explained, gesturing to himself.

"So all I have to do is give Potter a shot?" Lily asked sceptically.

"Sure."

"Alright, c'mon! We have a curse to break!" Lily tugged him up excitedly and started to drag him towards the lounge she'd left them all in.

"It's not a curse Lily."

"It is in my eyes."

"You're clinically insane Tiger Lily," Aiden chuckled.

"Of course I am AIDS," Lily scoffed.

"POTTER!"

"Hide Prongs!"

Lily ignored Sirius' comment and walked over to James, no one noticed Aiden smirking in the background.

The moment she stood in front of him she grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled his mouth to hers, again, she ignored Sirius and his wolf-whistles.

Remus and Marlene were gaping at the scene before them and Aiden was trying not to let laughter break his smirk.

"Go on a date with me Evans?" James asked when she pulled back.

Lily chanced a look back at Aiden who immediately wiped the smirk off and nodded encouragingly.

"Alright. Happy now?" she turned back to Aiden with a raised eyebrow.

"Not really, no."

"WHAT?"

"You actually thought… you did… good for you Lilykins," Aiden smirked.

"You **bastard**! GET BACK HERE!" Lily roared as he ran out of the room, cackling at the top of his lungs.

"COWARD!" Lily roared, sounding slightly animalistic, before she sprinted after him.

"LILY! NO!" Max, Canis, Ziff and Oliver yelled, morphing into their different animals as they zipped after her, leaving Remus, Sirius, Marlene and James to chase after them.

"Ho-ly shite," Oliver breathed, skidding to a stop in front of Lily and Aiden.

"Aiden, we're going to need you to- never mind, now, jut stay perfectly still, and we'll fix your mess," Ziff said, cautiously eyeing Lily.

"Well, at least you got her mad enough to make her let loose," Max commented, calmly observing the situation as if it had happened a million times already, which, in fact, it almost had.

Lily had Aiden on the floor and stood over him, snarling.

"I can't believe that she got it almost straight up, she even has all the markings, impressive little sis," Canis grinned at the large cat in front of him.

A mix between a lion and tiger, Lily was muscular, golden, fierce, deadly and tall, everything a shape-shifter could ask for. Her markings were bright blue curls and swirls that winded their way around her body in a beautiful pattern, the intricate story of what and who she was.

"Sweet Merlin… it's gorgeous!" Marlene tackled Lily off of Aiden and onto the floor, stroking her fur in awe.

"How'd you get it like this?"

"This is just how it looks, now let me kill him!"

"Woah there Tig! You're starting to sound like Lilac," Oliver chuckled.

"Someone has to."

"But that someone isn't going to be you."

"How do you know? I think my state of mind is right for the task."

"When isn't anyone's? The annoying prick, just calm down," Canis chuckled.  
"Excuse me?"

"You know everyone secretly wants to kill you," Max laughed.

"Not that bit, I am not an 'annoying prick'!"

"You sure look like one," Lily muttered.

"You're not looking so fine yourself!"

"I know that idiot," Lily scoffed, trying to escape from Marlene's tight grip.  
"So we're agreed?"

"On what?"

"That you're ugly."

"Let me kill him Mar!" Lily tried to lunge at Aiden, but Marlene miraculously managed to hold her back.

"I'm going to go find Zee," Aiden walked out of the hall.

"I hope you burn in hell!"

"Nah, the devil and I play poker every day with a 'Y' in it, he won't let me burn," Aiden scoffed as he walked out.

"EVERY RUDDY DAY HAS A 'Y' IN IT!" Lily yelled after him.

"That's the point!"

"Prick."


	3. Chapter 3- Aiden, Cale and Jack

He needed an escape, a release; he needed to get away from everything that was slowly driving him to breaking point.

So, early the next morning, Aiden dressed himself in a pair of worn blue jeans, a beaten black leather jacket with the zip missing, a pair of black Converse and finally classic aviators before he picked up the keys for his 1970 red Ford Mustang and he walked out his door.

He walked quietly to the large garage on the ground floor and cast a silencing charm on his Mustang before he opened the doors and jumped over the side of the car, landing with a quiet 'thump' on the leather seat.

Jamming the key in the ignition and turning until he could feel the engine vibrating, he revved the engine a few times before taking off, heading through the portal to the Interstate 90 that he had almost, _almost_, pleaded for, Lily still didn't know the reason as he wouldn't say.

Once he was through the portal that transported him behind an out-of-use service station beside the more scenic highway, he pulled out onto the currently empty road and slammed his foot on the accelerator.

As the car began to pick up speed he took the charm off and was hit with the roaring sound of the engine, pure ecstasy to his ears, he quickly grabbed the brick he had placed on the passenger side floor and cautiously replaced his foot with it.

After checking the speedometer he slowly started to rise out of his seat until he was standing on the floor with his arms out stretched and head tilted back with a wide grin plastered on his face.

He stayed like that for five minutes before he opened his eyes and checked the speedometer again, letting out a cheer of wild happiness as he saw the speed, 260 km/h; a new record.

Of course, he had fitted it with a new engine and altered a few other things to allow the car to go this fast, but he was still ecstatic about the broken record.

And for the first time in about a year, Aiden felt free and happy.

"LILY!" Max burst into her room.

"Max?"

"Aiden's gone."

"… Let me get dressed and then I'll get him for you. Just don't wake any of the others up," Lily sighed as she started to get out of bed.

"Er… too late?" Max said sheepishly.  
"Ugh, fine, just let me get dressed."

"Will do!" Max saluted her with an eye-roll before he marched off.

"What would I do without him?" Lily muttered as she quickly got dressed and pulled her hair up before she ran after him, now fully awake.

"Why did you wake us up?" Marlene whined.

"Aiden's mental, anything could be going on," Ziff interjected just as Lily ran out of the front door and into the front yard.

"Just go to the manor," Lily sighed before she disapperated, letting the others follow her example.

"Alright, is the Mustang gone?" she sighed again.

"Haven't checked," Oliver winced.

"Then go do it."

"Yes…"

"Follow me," Lily said tiredly as she began to walk towards the garage.

"Now just walk back out," Lily instructed before she did just that, disappearing as soon as she left the garage.

"Over here!" she whispered with a grin, beckoning them all over to the edge of the building with her.

Everyone could hear the loud roar of an engine from where they stood, but when they looked around the edge of the building it was even louder.

Though they could hear the car perfectly fine it was nowhere in sight.

"Why're we here? And why does it sound like a race but we can't see any cars again?" Marlene yelled over the noise.

"Wait for it!" Lily grinned, her keen emerald eyes looking at the road.

"NOW!"

"Woo-oo-oo-oo!"

"Is that _**Aiden**_?" Canis said, shocked.

"I knew there was a reason he wanted me to make a portal near one of the longest highways in the world, and why the Mustang was missing sometimes," Lily laughed.  
"I can't believe I didn't figure that out," Oliver and Ziff muttered.

"Uh… Lily?" Marlene asked.

"Yeah?"

"He's not coming back."

"… Be right back," Lily nodded before she disappeared, reappearing moments later with one blue and one black 1975 Chevy Caprice convertible, and one black 1974 Harley Davidson.

"We're not going to catch him just standing there are we?" Lily laughed, leaning the Harley.

"Damn right we're not! I call shotgun on the blue!" Canis yelled, jumping into the blue Chevy.

"I call shotgun on the black then!" Max called, jumping into the other car.

"I'll drive," Oliver and Ziff sighed, each going to the different cars.

"I'm going with Max and Oliver," Marlene shrugged.

"I'll go with her," James nodded.

"I call the bike!" Sirius grinned.

"Not so fast Black, this is my Harley… but you know how to drive one right?" Lily arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah!" he nodded excitedly.

"Well you can ride with me then, I'll need someone to take over," Lily grinned.

"So I'll get to drive at one point?"

"Yes."

"Sweet!"

"I'll just go with Canis and Ziff then," Remus chuckled, getting into the blue car as well.

"Alright then! Let's go!" Lily grinned, getting onto the Harley and revving the engine as Sirius clambered on before changing gears and taking off with the two cars close behind her.

"I CAN SEE HIM!" Lily yelled, spotting the red dot in the distance, not noticing that Oliver was slowly creeping up alongside her, trying to get in front.

"GREAT!" Max grinned at her, as they were now level.

"OLIVER! I DIDN'T TAKE YOU FOR THE RACING TYPE!" Lily yelled, mock-shock.

…

"HE SAYS BITE ME!" Max yelled.

"… AND THAT YOU SHOULD LOOK IN FRONT OF YOU BECAUSE ZIFF IS ABOUT TEN METRES IN FRONT!"

"ZIFF!"

"HE SAYS BITE ME!" Remus and Canis yelled, laughing.

"UH… **GUYS**?" Marlene yelled, slightly panicky.

"WHAT?" they chorused.

"HE STOPPED MOVING!"

Ziff and Oliver slammed on the breaks, but Lily just kept going.

"Can you take over?" she asked Sirius as they approached the red car.

"Alright," he answered uncertainly.

"Brilliant!" Lily grinned, carefully standing up when Sirius' hands were on the handlebars.

"What're you doing?" Sirius stared, wide eyed, at Lily.

"Just keep going!"

"I'm not-"

"DO IT!"

Sirius gulped but did as she said and kept going.

The moment they passed Aiden's car Lily slowly turned around, a smirk on her face, and jumped.

"LILY!"

But the yell was unnecessary as Lily sprouted a pair of wings just as she was about to begin falling and flapped them swiftly so she lifted herself quite far off the ground and landed gracefully on Aiden's car.

"Morning sunshine," Lily smirked, crossing her arms and looking down at Aiden who was lying on the floor with his jacket covering his face.

"It _was_," Aiden glared, pulling the jacket off of his face angrily.

"Now don't say that little brother," Lily chuckled.

"Excuse me, I'm just going to go slam my head in the door."

"Now don't do that little-"

"I swear if you call me 'little' ever again I will slam **your** head in the door!"

"Calm down Aiden, you need to keep it under control," Lily hopped onto the seat and brushed his fringe out of his yellow eyes that were covered by rectangular glasses.

"Lily, you don't get it… being… _trapped_ for that long isn't healthy," Aiden grabbed a fistful of his hair in frustration as he got up and sat on the dashboard.

"I know, but you need to push it back Aiden, you need to keep your temper," Lily sighed.

"… What about Cale? And Kira and Mikayla? Did he keep it a secret and keep it under control? Did they inherit it?"

"I don't know Aiden, you'll have to ask him," Lily said softly.

"… Will you let me?"

"So long as you don't rip his head off," Lily chuckled softly.

"Promise," Aiden cracked a small grin as he pulled her in for a one-armed hug.

Sirius was watching with interest from behind Aiden.

He couldn't hear anything but the actions were louder than words could ever be.

For instance, he could tell from the soft, caring and, he swore on his life, loving look on Lily's face that something was up, he could tell from Aiden's slumped shoulders and hand in his hair that something was eating him, and he could tell that this was a heart-to-heart, something he would never have associated with Aiden after Lily lifted the spell binding his true personality.

"What's going on?" he muttered to himself as he watched Aiden pull Lily into a hug and saw Lily kiss his cheek.

"Curious, curious…" Sirius shook his head in amusement as Aiden disappeared and Lily pointed her wand after climbing out of it, making it disappear as well, before she walked back to the bike.

"Prongs was right," Sirius smiled.

"About what?" Lily snorted.

"You really do love him," Sirius cracked a grin.

"No, I have a platonic love for Aiden and Cale, not Potter," Lily scoffed, making the bike disappear with a poke of her wand, simultaneously making Sirius land on his arse.

"You will though."

"Don't remind me," Lily sighed.

"I'm- wait what?"

"Come with me," Lily sighed again before she sent a Patronus to the others telling them to go back to her house.

She grabbed his hand and disapperated.

"Aiden! Wait!" Lily called, letting go of Sirius' hand the moment they arrived.

The boy in question turned around with confusion before seeing Sirius and nodding.

Lily and Sirius ran up to him and he raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Take off your shirt," Lily said.

"… No."

"Just do it," Lily said impatiently.

"Why?"

"Because I need to show Sirius."

"… You swear you won't kill me?"

"I don't see why I would, but sure," Lily answered cautiously.

Aiden smirked and took the jacket off, the shirt following soon after.

Sirius raised an eyebrow at Lily and she told Aiden to turn around.

"AIDEN!"

"I told you," Aiden laughed.

"What the hell is this?" Sirius asked, bewildered, as he stared at Aiden's largely tattooed back.

"Ignore the tattoos, and focus where there isn't any, what do you see?" Lily sighed.

Sirius looked at Aiden's back again and began to see a shape taking form amidst the tattoos, a pair of large, intricate stag antlers.

"Antlers…"

"A mark," Aiden corrected before he pulled his shirt and jacket on again.

"_Mark_?"

"A soul-mark," Lily interjected.

"Back up and please explain how this has anything to do with you and James."

Lily and Aiden exchanged a glance, a complete conversation was had through that glance and slowly Lily nodded.

"As long as you're quiet," Lily smiled sadly as she and Aiden began to walk towards the large iron gates in front of them.

"Alright…" Sirius answered curiously as he trailed after them.

"We're in a forest," Sirius said confusedly as the iron gates closed themselves behind him.

"Follow Aiden," Lily whispered as said person transformed and slowly started to make his way through the forest silently.

"Cale?" Lily called quietly as they reached a clearing barren of anything except a lone grave, a vacant eyed doe and a weary lion.

"What?" his voice was halfway between sad and steely.

"We came to-"

"To ask me about Cecilia?" he guessed, turning his head sadly.

"Not all of it, though she may be mentioned," Lily said softly, sitting beside the lion, Aiden lying down a couple of metres away.

"So what did you want exactly? And why is Sirius here?"

"He asked about the marks," Lily said quietly, slowly beginning to brush out Cale's knotty dark mane with her long fingers.

"Cecilia loved explaining that to people, it's a pity she isn't here to do it now," Cale said, lying down at the foot of the grave.

"Sit down Sirius," Lily said, gesturing to the patch of grass along the grave.

He did as he was told and sat down looking at Cale with curiosity and confusion.

"I'll do my best to explain it though," Cale sighed.

"Start with Zee's," Aiden said, he seemed closer than before.

"I'll start where I want," Cale chuckled.

"Just get on with it."

"Alright, the soul-marks show the select few people who have the potential to be your soul mate, hence the name _soul-mark_. Each piece of the spirit usually has a different soul-mate for the mortal or shape-shifter to choose from, though on rare occasions each piece has the same partner, the _only_ option," Cale said, a nostalgic look in his brown eyes.

"Alright, I understand so far," Sirius nodded slowly.

"Do Zee's!"

"What is it with him and Zee?"

"He doesn't want to talk about Cale and Cecilia or him and Lilac, so he picked Zee," Lily chuckled as she finished combing Cale's mane and began stroking his fur delicately.

"I can't explain Zee unless you've told him," Cale sighed, putting his large furry head in Lily's lap.

"… Sirius, if you swear never to tell anyone without my consent, we'll tell you."

"Why? Is it illegal or…"

"No, it's just a really big secret at the moment, not illegal, just a secret."

"… Alright?"

"Okay… you swear you'll never say a word? Potter's an illegal shape-shifter," Lily confessed rapidly.

"Wh-_**what**_?"

"James is an unknown shape-shifter, therefore making him an illegal one," Cale said.

"Then how do you lot know?" Sirius asked uneasily.

"This is where the marks come in again, we're one of the rare ones, the ones with only one fate, one destiny, one soul-mate," Lily whispered.

"Your destiny is with Prongs?" Sirius asked excitedly.

"You can't tell him!" Lily hissed.

"Not yet," Aiden and Cale chorused.

"Alright," Sirius grumbled, "Go on with your story."

"Zee met Jack, our shifter, a year before Hogwarts, though no one knew who he came from. Lily, Lilac, Zee and Cecilia accepted him almost instantly and everything was fine until second year.

"They were out on a… run, and they ran into some hunters, Lilac's a deer, so, obviously, they tried to shoot her, Jack saved her by taking a bullet and died," Cale sighed tiredly.

"We went back using a time-turner and tried to save him, we did but we didn't know it at the time, we thought he was still dead. Zee ran off and we chased after her so we didn't actually check the second time that he was dead. The bullet shattered his shoulder and left him limp. But he came back last year after Cecilia and Cale's wedding, Zee was so shocked and she felt so betrayed she almost killed him for real, then she tried to kill Cale and Aiden because they knew, Cecilia and I stopped her, Lilac was just egging her on," Lily chuckled humorlessly.

"Can we go a little further back? Can I hear about Aiden and Lilac?" Sirius asked, eyes wide with a thirst for knowledge about the matter… Lily was slightly scared.

"Sure," Cale chuckled at the same time as Aiden yelled, "NO!"

"Aiden and Lilac hated each other from the very beginning, no one knows why, but both of them couldn't stand the sight of the other. They'd always be at each other's throats with blades and attempting to kill them, luckily the most serious it ever got was a couple of missing limbs," Cale smiled.

Sirius cracked a grin and Cale chuckled at the child-like look in his eyes.

"Can I ask about er… Cecilia?" Sirius asked Cale quietly.

All humor was instantly wiped from Cale's face and was replaced with a despondent stare.

"I don't thi-" Lily started, but Cale cut her off.

"No, it's fine," Cale said tiredly, Lily looked surprised.

"What about her did you want to know?"

"Just what she was to you I guess," Sirius shrugged.

"Cecilia was… she was… she was my everything," Cale concluded after a minute of thinking.

"I don't know whether it was her insane beauty or indescribable personality, but I was just drawn to her in a way I could never even imagine to understand."

"How would you describe her?"

"… Innocent."

"How did you know you loved her?"

"I suppose it was the fact that she always made me nervous and clumsy," Cale said, a ghost of a smile gracing his weary face.

"… Who was she?"

"Something that Earth wasn't worthy of."

"That's the second time I've heard that," Sirius admitted with a small smile.

"And who was the first?" Aiden asked suspiciously.

"James, about you, Lily,"

Lily snorted and rolled her eyes.

"No, you heard what he said Lily, that's how Prongs feels about you, I'm not joking, ask Peter or Remus or… or _**anyone**_! It's so obvious to everyone except you, _why_?" Sirius asked, slightly desperate.

"… Look what happened to Cecilia, Lilac and Zee, one dead, one soulless, the last barely sane, then look at Cale and Jack, Cale's empty and Jack is darker than his hair, it's better this way," Lily whispered sadly.

"Lily, he wouldn't care how he ended up as long as you were alright."

"But it's my death that will do that to him Sirius! I can't do that, not even to him," Lily said sadly.

"What? You're life plan is to never fall in love?" Sirius said angrily.

"Not with him."

"Lily, I don't mean to sound insensitive, but if what you say is true then you'll die like Ce- she did no matter what, why not be with your soul-mate before you die?"

Lily fell silent, but Cale answered for her.

"The longer we can prolong them the longer Lily can live, and maybe James, because I'm not sure if I'll go mad or not."

"Yes, I told you it's better this way," a lone tear trickled down her cheek.

"We all die sometime Lily, I know James would never let you go, he'll learn from Cale's mistake and he'll never let you out of his sight, he'll protect you until the end."

"I know, but what if it costs him his life? I could never live with myself," Lily sighed.

"It won't, Pete, Remus and I'll be there to save your skins," Sirius cracked a sad smile.

"Yeah, well, you won't be able to save mine."

"We might."

"You're hope is admirable Sirius, but it's in vain, I'll die after the birth of my twin girls, leaving you lot to take care of them if the father's already dead," Lily said despondently.

"… How about we change the subject? What shape are your marks? You and Zee, and what about the other four?" Sirius asked Cale.

"If you must know," Cale chuckled, "Mine and Cecilia's was a healing cross, Zee and Jack's is a Snitch, the reason should be obvious."

Sirius chuckled and Cale continued.

"Oliver has a wolf's head and Ziff has a book, again, straight forward, Max has a ball that frequently changes what type it is, and, finally, Canis has an eye of a tiger."

"Cool!"

Cale and Lily laughed at his excitement and Sirius grinned internally at succeeding in making the gloomy atmosphere dissipate.

"I'm going to go see Jack," Aiden grunted, standing up and shaking himself.

"Can I come?" Sirius asked.

"You're sure?" Aiden asked, giving Sirius a searching look.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Sirius grinned.

"Trust me, you don't want to know," Lily sighed.

Sirius shrugged and she sighed.

"Alright, Cale, 're you coming?"

Cale nodded.

"That means we'll have to take Lilac as well," Lily sighed before she carefully took Cale's head off of her lap and stood up.

"Come on, we've got a bit of a walk ahead of us," Lily held a hand out to Sirius.

"A _walk_?" Sirius moaned as he took Lily's hand and stood up.

"Yes, sunshine, a dreaded **walk**," Lily laughed as Cale stood up as well.

"I'll take Lilac, meet you there, Lily," Cale nodded before he and Lilac disappeared.

Aiden just grunted before he too disappeared.

"You have to promise not to judge Potter after this, I know he's nothing like my brothers, he doesn't know the things they do, he hasn't seen the things they have, he hasn't done the things they have," Lily said.

"I could never, Lily, he's family," Sirius swore.

"Good," Lily whispered distantly before she grabbed his hand and disapperated.

"Where are we?" Sirius asked as he and Lily appeared about 100 metres away from a dense jungle.

"We're in a shifter prison," Lily explained calmly as she looked around for Aiden, Cale and Lilac.

"Prison?"

"Each shape-shifter has there own lot to keep prisoners, I have the largest because I was Head and I set this up."

"But wouldn't they take it back because you're no longer Head?" Sirius asked confusedly.

"As long as you can defend it it's still yours," Lily smirked.

Sirius looked at her in shock and she shrugged before looking around for the other three again.

"If they've gone in…" Lily muttered dangerously.

"I see Cale and Lilac," Sirius said, pointing out the lion and doe that appeared about 50 metres away.

"Where's Aiden?" Lily called out as they jogged over.

"He's on the other side dealing with something," Cale shrugged.  
"Alright, we'll just- never mind," Lily sighed as he appeared in front of them, a victorious look in his eyes.

"Can we go in now?" Cale asked tiredly.

Lily and Aiden rolled their eyes fondly and began to walk towards the forest, leaving Sirius to attempt to make Lilac move.

"Here," Cale chuckled, swatting Lilac's rump with his front left paw.

"Thanks," Sirius grinned.

"Well, if Aiden's not going to look after her who else is? Lily's too busy, the other four have to keep Zee under control, and Cecilia's dead."

"I'm sorry,"

"You don't have any reason to be, it's not your fault," Cale sighed as they followed Lilac, helping her in the right direction.

"Yeah, but…"

"OI! You two! Hurry up!" Aiden scowled.

"Coming Sargent Seething," Cale muttered, Sirius chuckled, Aiden, who obviously heard, scowled even deeper.

"It's about time."

"Coming from you," Cale snorted.

Aiden glared at him and Cale smiled secretly to himself, he loved winding Aiden up.

"Let's just go in," Lily rolled her eyes fondly before she walked in.

He watched them from the shadows, slinking through the undergrowth and trees, following them silently, though he knew they all knew he was there.

"What was that?" the shaggy haired one asked as he purposely stepped on a twig and stared at the back of their heads with his mismatched glowing eyes.

"He's here Sirius, watching us," said the red-haired one that could have been Zee if not for the emeralds instead of topazes.

"No shit, Sherlock," the darkly coloured stag snorted.

"Be quiet Aiden," the dark-maned lion growled.

The stag simply snorted again.

Then there was the doe; the vacant eyed, vulnerable, doe, so ripe for the picking, so delectable looking, sure, the stag would prove to last longer, but the doe looked so easy, and so _tasty_.

He moved into a pouncing position near the doe and accidentally let out a ripping, wild growl before lunging for the doe's jugular.

Sirius heard it before he saw it, an animalistic, predatory growl.

He whipped around just in time to see Cale take the thrashing black creature to the ground and Aiden run over to help.

"That's Jack?" Sirius blinked.

"Being in prison can drive you mad Sirius, even if it is a prison like this, he's confined to this jungle," Lily said.

Suddenly Jack broke free of Cale and Aiden's hold and leapt for Lilac.

Sirius didn't think, he just followed his instincts and transformed before meeting Jack head on in the air, causing them both to go crashing to the ground, unconscious.


	4. Chapter 4- Madness Pure Madness

"Morning," Lily smiled down at him.

"Wh-where am I?" Sirius croaked hoarsely, propping himself up and looking around, all he could see was white, he noted the facts that he had a killer headache.

"You're in our infirmary, you took a head-shot from a pretty powerful panther, Sirius, you've been out for about a week and a half. Everyone was worried about you," Lily smiled gently, gesturing to the many get-well cards and sweets on his bedside.

"Why are there so many?" he squinted, attempting to count them.

"Well, you know Marlene, I told her you ran into a foreign poltergeist and next minute I'm receiving all these cards for you saying things like 'I hope you weren't too mangled by the Cerberus, kisses,' and 'Get-well soon, how did you defeat the wendigo?'" Lily snorted.

"McKinnon," Sirius groaned.

"Don't worry, Cale, Aiden and I know the truth, that was a really brave thing you did, Sirius, you saved my sister, even Aiden was impressed," Lily grinned.

"And how hard is that?"

"About as hard as getting Voldemort to call off the war," Lily chuckled.

"My head hurts," Sirius groaned as the splitting pain in his head intensified.

"I would suspect so, I healed your skull, Merlin knows how cracked that thing was, but I can't make the pain go away without a potion, which I have here," Lily picked up a small flask from the bedside table, in between all the cards and sweets.

"Drink up," Lily handed him the flask.

Sirius screwed up his nose, ready for the foul taste as he drank the contents as quickly as he could.

"Disgusting, as always," Sirius gagged.

"It won't get better with time, so I suggest you stop getting all those head injuries," Lily smiled.

"It's the only con of playing Quidditch," Sirius laughed, carefully swinging his legs out of his covers.

"Not yet, you can't leave for another day, but I can let them in," Lily poised her wand aimed at the door, a raised eyebrow directed at him.

"Go on, I want to see their faces," Sirius laughed, sitting back on the bed and sitting cross-legged on top of the sheets.

"Alright, just take it easy," Lily chuckled before she opened the doors with a swish of her wand.

"PADFOOT!" James yelled as he ran over to Sirius' bed.

"Potter! Not so loud," Lily scowled.

"YOU'RE ALIVE!"

"POTTER!"

"Not so loud, Lily," Marlene mock-chastised as they began to walk over as well.

"PADFOOT!"

"Not so loud," Lily scowled at the five boys and single lion that burst through the doors.

"YOU'RE ALIVE!"

"Honestly! You're all the same!" Lily threw her arms up

"But where would you be without us?" Max and Oliver chorused.

"I would be sane."

"You just continue to _wound _and **wound** and _**wound**_ us! I've had _**enough**_!"

"Shut up Max," Lily shoved him lightly.

"Physical violence! Did you see that? I'm sending you to court!" Max pointed a finger accusingly at Lily.

"I missed you," Aiden smiled as he fell onto one of the pristine white beds and fell asleep.

"UNCLE PADFOOT!" Kira and Mikayla ran through the door and climbed up onto the chairs to look at him.

"I've never seen a dead person before, but aren't they meant to be, you know, not moving?" Kira asked Lily.

"Who told you I was dead?" Sirius blinked.

"It _**TALKS**_! RUN MIKAYLA! RUN AND CARRY ME AWAY WITH YOU!" Kira cried, jumping into Mikayla's arms.

"AH!" Mikayla screamed as she toppled off the chair, due to the shock of having Kira jump into her arms.

"KIRA!" Mikayla glared at her twin.

"RUN OLIVER! RUN!" Kira leapt onto Oliver's leg, said Remus just shrugged and started to run.

"CHASE THEM ZIFF!" Mikayla cried, jumping onto his back, as he was sitting down.

Ziff chuckled before he got up and started to run after Oliver, without the difficulty of having the child clutching onto his leg.

"The card bit me!" Canis yelped, clutching his bleeding finger.

"This is madness, true _madness_," Cale's right eye twitched as he jumped up onto Sirius' bed and sat down on his hunches, watching the scene fold out before him.

At that precise moment Aiden cracked an eye open, no one noticed, especially not Cale.

'Heh heh… _**pillow**_,' he thought, slowly getting off the bed and creeping over to Cale, who _still_ hadn't noticed.

"BONSAI TREE!" Aiden chucked the pillow at Cale's head with such force it knocked him off Sirius' bed.

"AIDEN!"

"Sh- _what_?"

"You hit me with a pillow, I fell, you must die."

"I'm not fi- you spaz," Aiden said flatly as a pillow knocked him back into a chair.

Cale stood there grinning, standing tall as his half-human, half-lion self.

"He's so cute! Can we keep him Lily? _**Please**_?" Canis tackled Cale into a hug and looked up at Lily with wide eyes.

"Oh I don't know, will you promise to feed and house train him?" Lily said.

"OI!"

"I promise! Can we?"

"Oh all right," Lily laughed.

"I'm not a dog," Cale crossed his arms childishly.

"Of course you aren't," a new voice scoffed.

"Oh yes, I forgot to mention the _other_ good news!" Lily said excitedly.

"What?" Sirius asked curiously, sensing the direction in which this was going.

"Well, it turns out that, due to frequent bombardments of remembrance, devil-child is back!"

"WHAT?" Aiden roared.

"I was happy without her being here!"

"Yes, but it's actually partially your fault that she's back," Lily chuckled.

"Well excuse me while I just go kill myself," Aiden scowled as he got up and headed towards the door.

"I wouldn't-" Lily started, wincing.

"Why hello there Satan, oh, sorry, I thought you were someone else," Aiden sneered.

"Shove off, tiny."

"I'm taller than you."

"Not anymore, bastard," she smirked, her height slowly escalating to seven feet.

"Yes, this is the vacant eyed doe you saw a week ago, sad isn't it?" Lily sighed, shrinking Lilac again.

"He's so scrawny!" Lilac gasped, pointing to James.

"Can we keep him?" she ran over and gave him the sort of hug you might give a small, adorable puppy.

"No, you don't know where he's been," Lily frowned.

"Hey! I'm not scrawny! Just… let me go!" James attempted to squirm out of Lilac's vice-like grip… he failed, like the many that came before him.

"Lilac, drop it," Lily said scoldingly.

Lilac scowled and slowly let go of James.

"Good girl," Lily praised.

"What do you think he eats?" Canis asked Lily, still holding onto Cale who was trying valiantly to escape Canis' grip.

"Oh god, HELP! Not again!" Cale cried.

"Do you think he knows any tricks?" Max asked wide-eyed.

"No, I don't, now let me go," Cale snapped.

"He talks!" Canis squealed a very manly squeal.

"Let me go, woman!"

"Maybe we could give him to Kira and Mikayla as a doll…"

"I swear to god I **will** bite you!"

"Or maybe we could sell hi- OW! LILY! HE BIT ME!" Canis released Cale and clutched his fore arm, where there were four deep puncture marks on either side of his arm.

"VAMPIRE!" Max leapt into Lily's arms, making them both go toppling onto the floor.

"I warned you."

"I thought you were joking! You know! Like when I said I would melt Lilac's collection of… oh… wait… I did do that…"

"YOU **WHAT**?" Lilac shrieked.

"Nothing!" Canis said all too quickly.

"DIE!" Lilac lunged for him but a hand stopped her.

Lilac snarled at Aiden and he glared right back.

"Ooh, romantic tension," Max snickered.

"I _would_ call you some profane names, but there're children here."

"Stop it," they growled at each other.

"**Stop** it."

"I'm serious, quit it!"

"Oh just go and snog already!" Oliver rolled his eyes.

"Urgh!" Lilac snarled, shoving Aiden away from her, as they had unconsciously gotten closer, almost nose-to-nose.

"… Am I missing something here?" Remus blinked.

"If you don't think Aiden's an absolute prat then, yes, you are," Lilac glowered at said male who glared right back with equal hatred.

"Oh, they despise each other," Max said casually.

"… _Why_?" Marlene asked.

"Who knows, it's all in their minds though, eventually they'll just shut up and snog," Max smirked.

"I would kill you, but there are innocent children in here," Lilac growled.

Aiden, on the other hand, picked up a flower vase and very calmly took the flowers out and placed them on the bedside table before he walked towards Max silently, stopping in front of him and slowly pouring the contents over his head, you'd think it would be water but Aiden had somehow replaced it with sour, curdled milk.

"Water wasn't good enough for you was it?" Max pushed his dripping, sour locks out of his face before wiping it and looking at the smirking Aiden with a raised eyebrow.

"No, it wasn't, and that shit will stick for a week, no matter how many times you wash it," Aiden smirked.

"Eh, it can't be as bad as when Oliver shoved me into the bog," Max shrugged, taking the vase from Aiden before he walked off.

Aiden stood there for a moment, deep in thought, before a slow glow grew into his eyes and he smirked even wider than before.

Oliver looked at him curiously as the smirk grew, but when he saw the glow; he knew where this was going, and he wanted to help.

Aiden saw Oliver smirking at him and he smirked right back, rubbing his hands together as they slowly and silently walked up to Max's back.

Aiden counted down from five on his fingers and when he reached five they lifted him up and disappeared.

"LILY!" was all Max got in before he too disappeared.

"They're going to throw him in the bog aren't they?" Sirius asked.

"My _**arm**_!" Canis cried, having completely forgotten about his punctured arm.

"Suck it up," Lilac snorted.

"You weren't bitten by the rabid monkey!"

Cale sighed and looked around, attempting to find some sort of sane life form, the closest he got was Remus… but he also noticed something else.

"… Where are Kira and Mikayla?" he asked slowly.

"Cale! Your offspring are psychotic!" Aiden cried as he appeared on the ground by the door, Kira and Mikayla poking and jabbing him with sticks and other implements of pain infliction like rocks and fingers, as well as trying to steal his glasses and pulling his hair.

"ARGH! SOMEONE GET THE DEVIL'S OFF ME! SATAN! SAVE ME!"

"No," Lilac smirked.

"You're not Satan! You're that thing – ARGH! LET GO! – under Satan! And don't insult one of my friends! Satan's a good guy!"

"Because that's why he's the ruler of the underworld in the religion of Christianity," Lily snorted.

"Yes! You don't know him!"

"See, this is why I was so shocked when Aiden started being sarcastic, he's one of those people that are always serious, even when they're joking," Lily shook her head mock-morosely.

"Now that you've had your fun and talked about my bad sense of humor can you save me from these spawn of Lilac!"

"OI!" Cale glared, "She's your problem, not mine!"

"Excuse me?" Lilac said, a hand over her heart in an offended manner.

"Be quiet! I think they're retreating," Aiden said in a hushed voice, watching the twins like a hawk.

"Dad! We're hungry!" Kira and Mikayla whined, jumping off Aiden's back and running over to hug their father's lion legs.

"Alright, let's go find Zee," Cale chuckled.

"Can't you cook?"

"Trust me, I'll poison you, the only person that knows who to cook here is Zee, I'm still technically not allowed to touch anything in the kitchen besides the finished dish, no one other than Zee's allowed to actually, especially not Canis," Cale sent him a smirk.

"That was one time! _**One **__**time**_! Can no one let it go? Now can you please fix my arm Lily!"

"Oh fine," Lily chuckled, brushing his arms with her fingertips, instantly healing the puncture marks.

"Thank you."

"… Is it occurring to anyone else that Aiden has a serious fear of children?" Ziff asked.

"I do not!"

"You do," everyone else chorused flatly.

"Just because all children are pure evil doesn't mean I'm afraid of them!"

"Look at this innocent face," Lily said as she picked up Kira, said child pulling her most angelic and innocent face, and held her in front of Aiden's face.

"Is this the face of pure evil?"

"Yes."

"You need a therapist, Aiden, I swear you're afraid of everything normal people aren't," Lily snorted.

"… I'm not afraid of pillows, normal people aren't afraid of pillows," Aiden smirked.

"But look at the adorable face!"

"That is what Hell's darkest and most foul pit looks like, no offence Cale," Aiden stuck his head to look at Cale.

"I LOOK EXACTLY LIKE YOU!"

"Yes, but there are minor differences that make me so much sexier than you," Aiden winked.

"You have all destroyed my Brian- _**BRAIN**_! I meant BRAIN! This is too mental for my brain to comprehend!"

"If I remember correctly Cale, you used to be an active participator in this 'mental-osity' you speak of," Canis grinned very creepily.

"I am going to go to the kitchen, and I am going to come back after five minutes, when I came back _something_ better be normal or I swear I will pull a Lilac on all your arses," Cale's eye twitched as he said this and walked out the door, Kira and Mikayla following him, giggling.

"Phase one! GO!" Lily instructed and everyone, other than Remus, Sirius, James and Marlene, began to move around frantically.

* * *

_Please be normal, please be normal, please be normal, please be normal, please be normal, please be normal, __**please**__,_ Cale thought to himself desperately as he reached the doors, having left Kira and Mikayla in the kitchen, five minutes later.

_I don't want to go in there, who knows what horrors they have performed,_ Cale shuddered at the thought.

"Get it together, what's the worst that could have happened in five minutes?" he asked himself.

_Quite a lot actually, don't you remember?_

…

_Obliviously not._

Cale ignored the annoying inner voice and pushed down on the handle, slowly opening the door and stepping through, still in his half lion form.

In the dead centre was a pure white Shetland pony in a spotlight, surrounded by pitch-black darkness.

"I swear you lot… if anything weird happens… I _will_ get you for it," Cale said warningly into the darkness.

Suddenly the door slammed shut and Cale swivelled around, walking up to it and pushing on the handle, only to find that it was locked.

"Why? Seriously, _why_?" Cale groaned in frustration, "What've I done to you? Why the Shetland pony? Why?"

At that moment the pony stood up on it's front legs, back legs extended up into a perfect line.

"That… that… THAT ISN'T POSSIBLE!"

"Or is it?" a sloth appeared on his shoulder, pulling one of those sloth paedophile faces.

"No, it's not, and you're not either because Zee isn't here and Lily has an irrational aversion to sloths!"

"Really Lily?" a muffled voice asked.

"Ha! You can't fool me! I know you're all just trying to make me go insane! But it's not going to work!"

"Mate, we didn't even need to interfere to make you insane, you were already there," a voice that sounded suspiciously like Max's snorted.

"Ha! I knew it! Where are you?"

"Good one!" _Lily, definitely Lily, _Cale thought.

"Oi! It wasn't my fault he was smart… ish," Max's voice rang out.

"Hey! I'm smarter than you, Max!"

"Of course you are," Canis' sarcastic voice laughed.

"Why is the pony dancing?"

"Oh thank god! I thought they killed you, Remus!" Cale sighed in relief.

"We wouldn't!" the protest was yelled from every spirit in the room.

"Well… Aiden might…"

"Give me a break! The only person I'd ever kill in this room would be you!" Aiden scoffed.

"Doesn't that make me feel special," Lilac said sarcastically.

"Shut up you two! You're going to give your positions away!" Lily snapped.

"Too late," Cale smirked as he walked towards the back of the room, noticing the tiny glint of light that came off of Aiden's glasses before he took them and ran away, the pads on his feet making no sound as he made his getaway.

"CALE!" Aiden roared, beginning to stumble around blindly in search of the offender.

"Oui?"

"Don't you go all second language on me! GIVE ME MY GLASSES!"

"I thought his second language was Italian?" Canis asked.

"Second language?" James blinked, no one payed him any attention.

"It is, but who doesn't know at least _some_ French?"

"… Peter doesn't," Sirius volunteered.

"Does he know the word 'café'?" Cale asked offhandedly.

"You're kidding me, of course he does."

"Then he knows a French word, even if he doesn't know he knows a French word," Cale explained carelessly, fiddling with Aiden's glasses.

"Wait! What do you mean second language?" James repeated himself, this time a couple of people listened to him.

"Oh, Cale and Ziff got bored one day and decided to teach themselves Italian," Max shrugged.

"CALE! I swear to god, if you don't give me back my glasses I will pulverise you!"

"Good luck with that," Cale said, still curiously playing with Aiden's glasses.

"I can hear your sarcasm! And no one appreciates your stupid fetish!"

"What fetish?" Cale asked curiously.

"Your fetish towards being sarcastic," Aiden narrowed his useless eyes.

"Do you even know what fetish means?" Cale raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, actually, I do."

"Then why don't you pr-" Cale started but Marlene cut in.

"As fun as this is, can we just stop so I can ask questions?"

"Let's do that when Cale gives my glasses back!"

"I don't even know where you are, how can I give them to you if I don't know where you are?"

With a wave of his hand the lights came back on, and the pony and sloth vanished, this also revealed everyone hiding behind different beds, sans Sirius, who was confined to his bed.

"Thank you," Cale said absentmindedly as he continued to fiddle with Aiden's glasses.

Aiden scowled at him and walked over; taking his glasses back from Cale.

"Yeah, thanks Aiden! Anyway! Sirius! What was it _really_ that got you? A poltergeist couldn't do that," Marlene asked quickly.

"Well…" Sirius trailed off, side-glancing at Lily for help.

'Stick with the story, it _was_ a poltergeist,' was what she mouthed.

"It _was_ a poltergeist, it had some stolen pots and stuff, and it, er, dumped them on my head," he said sheepishly.

"Now I don't believe that for a second, the all powerful Padfoot, knocked out by pots?" Remus snorted.

"That's what happened, Remus," Cale shrugged.

"You're in on it too, and I'm betting Aiden is as well… what did you lot do?" Remus asked suspiciously.

"Nothing!" they cried.

"They didn't," Oliver, Ziff, Max and Canis chorused.

"You lot too, really?"

"What? They're telling the truth!" they defended.

"Me thinks the group doth protest to much," Remus smirked.

"Those who don't protest are pushovers and have no mind of their own," Ziff said carelessly.

Remus glared at the Gryffindor and all that he got in return was a smug grin.

"I still don't believe it," Marlene narrowed her eyes.

Sirius set a quick pup-eyed look to Lily, hoping she'd tell them, but she pretended not to see.

"… Cale… did you, per chance, leave those children of yours in the kitchen?" Canis asked slowly.

"What if I did?"

"Being away from the smart people must've really made your brain decompose… they're _seven_… there is a _toaster _and _utensils_ in that kitchen."

After a moment of processing Cale's eyes widened and he ran out of the room.


	5. Chapter 5- The Reveal

"How do you do that?" Cale asked Canis as he walked back into the infirmary with Mikayla on his shoulders and Kira trailing sulkily after them.

"What?"

"When I got there Kira was about to put a fork in the active toaster, and that's what you specified… exactly."

"Really? I hadn't noticed," Canis chuckled.

"He's a psycho!" Mikayla cried, pointing a finger accusingly at Canis who wore an affronted expression.

"I think you mean 'psychic'," Cale chuckled.

"Oh…" Mikayla's cheeks flushed a nice shade of maroon.

Kira snickered in the background and Mikayla spun around, sticking her tongue out at her twin who just scowled again.

"What I want to know is why Kira was going to stick a fork in the toaster in the first place?" Lily asked, bewildered.

Cale turned around and quirked an eyebrow at his daughter, not noticing Mikayla silently giggling on his shoulders.

"Um… well… you see… uh… Mikayla dared me to!"

"Hey!"

"When I walked in I saw her telling you not to."

At this Kira glared at Mikayla, who just giggled.

"Um… I… don't… know?" Kira winced.

"I told her to," a calm, cold voice rang through the air.

"Zee!" Lily scowled.

"What?" Zee sneered, leaning against the wall.

"Why would you tell her to do that?" Lily pressed her lips together in a very McGonagall like fashion.

"For laughs I suppose," Zee said carelessly, looking dead into Lily's blazing eyes from across the room, challenging her.

"You _suppose_?" Lily hissed.

"Yes, got a problem?" Zee curled the corner of her upper lip up in anger.

"… I just realised… this is because of… _why_?" Lily chuckled humorlessly.

Zee ignored her and Lily narrowed her eyes in anger.

"You know what Marlene, I _will_ tell you what happened," Lily smirked at Zee, who went suspiciously pale, before turning to face the others.

"But you can't tell anyone, not a word, okay?" Lily asked seriously.

"Got it!"

"Are you sure Lily?" Cale asked uneasily.

"Fairly sure, Cale," Lily nodded innocently.

"He'll kill them, Tig, you do know that right?" Aiden asked carelessly.

"Oh please, he'll get through the door and we'll have to stop _Lilac and Zee _killing him… and maybe you from killing Lilac," Lily added as an after thought.

Aiden shrugged, not at all offended.

"You lot go get him, he's still in the prison, I'll wait 'til you get back to explain," Lily said.

"I'm still against this," Cale muttered before he put Mikayla down and disappeared with the other five.

"Kira, Mikayla, your father will kill me if you're not up on this bed when they get back," Lily said the moment the boys left.

"Why?" Kira asked curiously.

"… Because we're going to have a very… dangerous guest in a minute," Lily phrased it very carefully.

"Fine," she sighed dramatically as she and Mikayla walked over to the bed and Lily picked them up to put them on the bed next to Sirius.

"You're bringing him here?" Sirius' eyes bugged out.

"Why not?"

"He'll have a heart attack!" only he and Lily knew that it was a different 'he' they were talking about.

"He'll be fine! He's a big boy, he can handle it," Lily brushed him off.

"Shouldn't you at least explain it before he gets here and he dies from heart failure?" Sirius asked.

"… Nah," Lily shook her head.

"I'm telling you this isn't a good idea."

"And I'm telling you it'll be fine, as long as everyone stays behind Oliver, Max and Canis."

"It'll get out of hand! I can feel it!"

"You've got Zee and Lilac here as well as myself, I'm sure we can handle it Sirius," Lily brushed him of again, focusing on the entranceway.

"I'm still not sure about this Lily," Sirius answered uneasily.

"Well its too late now, they're right outside the door," Lily said.

As she said that the doors opened slowly and Oliver, Max and Canis walked through backwards, teeth bared at the doors as they shut again, growls and snarls reverberating off of the stone walls.

As the doors opened a second time a large midnight-black panther crawled in, pressing itself onto the ground and hissing at the lion, wolf and dog furiously, behind the panther was Aiden, Cale and Ziff, the latter two crouched into pouncing positions as they crept forward with the group, Aiden stood directly at the back with his head down, but face facing the panther, ready to move at a moments notice.

"This is what almost killed Sirius," Lily said as the circle stopped moving about three or so metres away from them.

"A panther? In England?" Marlene asked sceptically.

"That's not a panther," Zee snarled at Lily.

"It's a person…" Marlene's eyes went wide.

"Yes… can you guess who?" Lilac growled.

"How am I meant to guess that?" Marlene threw her arms up.

"Let me give you a clue, blue and yellow equal green, add the right amount of silver and it can shine like a gem," Lily said.

"Blue, yellow, silver, green, gem… nope, nothing," Marlene groaned.

"Hang on… gem, green… emerald… Your eyes are emerald Lily… Zee's are yellow… and Lilac's are blue! Cecilia's must have been silver then," Remus concluded, proud with his intelligence.

"Yes, can you still not figure it out?" Lilac raised an eyebrow.

"… No, because we don't know the other's eye colour," Remus sighed.

"Oh but you do," Lily muttered before she took a step forward, and another, and another, and another, until she was in line with Oliver.

"And what colour are his eyes Remus?" Lily asked calmly.

"Blue and green… that could be anything!"

"Or maybe they're just flecks," Lilac answered stonily as Lily held her hand out to the panther, palm up, and clenched her fingers, closing her eyes for better concentration.

The panther's body structure began to change with violent jerks, the cracking of bones could be heard and the sleek black fur covering it was shrinking back into the flesh, which was rapidly changing shape as well.

The only thing that didn't change during the whole transformation were the eyes, though a pair of square glasses now covered them.

"Oh my god…" Marlene whispered, hands over her mouth in shock, not only had she just witnessed her best friend change a panther into a human, but that same human was also Lily's worst nemesis.

"Yeah, surprise," Lily winced.

Zee and Lilac glowered at the piece of spirit before them with a silently burning fury that could not even begin to be described.

James, meanwhile, was choking on his own spit and his eyes were almost bugging out of their sockets as he took in the spirit piece in front of him.

Cale, Aiden, Ziff, Oliver, Canis and Max had also changed back during the process and their human senses were on the highest alert possible, ready to take the piece of spirit down in under a second.

"This… is Jack James, Potter's shifter," Lily said evenly, her keen eyes trained on the shifter.

"Is-is he going to say anything or just stand there?" Marlene asked after a moment of silence.

"He can't speak, he doesn't even know who he is, who any of us are, if he did he wouldn't have attacked Lilac and Sirius wouldn't have jumped in to save the day," Lily chuckled humorlessly.

While this was going on Jack was looking around the room for an escape route, finding none other than through the gaps between the six beings surrounding him.

"Sirius fought J-Jack with his bare hands?" Marlene stammered.

"Well, it wasn't really a fight, more like a collision," Aiden said, a smirk twitching on the right side of his mouth.

"I didn't see you trying to save Lilac," Lily scowled.

Aiden shrugged and Lilac glared at him.

"Take him back," Lily said to the six brothers.

"Aren't you going to change him back?" Oliver asked.

"No, maybe he'll remember something in this form," Lily said.

Oliver shrugged before they started to move forward, until they were all shoulder-to-shoulder around Jack.

No one had noticed, but Zee was no longer in the room.

In a flash they all disappeared.

"Well that was fun, now I'm hungry!" Kira whined after a moment of shocked silence.

"I swear they all almost died and you say you're hungry, you really are insensitive," Mikayla sighed.

"Hey! It's not my fault they're all wusses!" Kira defended.

"Kira!" Lily scolded.

"What? Why is everyone picking on me?"

"I'm never having children," Lily muttered to herself, knowing it was a lie.

"Where's Zee?" Remus asked, just noticing said shifter wasn't here.

"Where do you think?" Lilac smirked.

"I don't know! I don't know anything about her other than the fact that she's Lily's shifter!" Remus said, slightly miffed.

"Oh really? I'll tell you," Lilac smirked nastily.

"Really?" Remus' eyes brightened.

"Of course."

"Don't twist the story Lilac," Lily warned.

"Do you not trust me at all?" Lilac said, mock-affronted.

Lily narrowed her eyes and Lilac snorted before turning back to Remus.

"Now, years ago we were the only spirit pieces around, but we met someone, another shifter to be precise, Zee was ecstatic, she thought she'd never meet a shifter her age, so, they started to hang around each other, and as you could imagine, spending time around others who are similar to you pushes your feelings towards them into more than friendly ones," Lilac explained offhandedly.

"So what happened?" Remus asked curiously.

"He faked his death, well, the second time anyway, the first time he did actually get killed, saving me too, how sweet for Zee," Lilac sneered.

"And…"

"Zee was… I'd like to say destroyed, but it was so much worse than that, the feeling was ten times worse because it wasn't her, as selfish as that sounds, but me, he died to save _me_ not _her_. Love's a fickle thing isn't it? Never cared for it much myself, such a mortal thing."

"How can you not care for love?" Sirius asked, astonished.

"You of all people should know, Sirius," Lilac scoffed.

Sirius winced and Lily shot Lilac a glare.

"Anyway," Lilac continued, ignoring Lily's death glare, "we didn't know he wasn't dead, so we left his body there in favour of chasing Zee, who had run away, the rat must've dragged himself to some safe house. Though, he came back last year in human form, which none of us had ever seen, he betrayed us all, Zee went berserk, almost killed the git, not that he didn't deserve it," Lilac snorted, "he's been in exile ever since, stuck in the prison and in panther form, it's what drives them insane, not being able to change forms and being stuck in one area that is," Lilac rolled her eyes.

"… She's gone to finish the job," Lily whispered in realisation after a minute of deadly silence.

"Oh no, she's started a new one," Lilac sent Lily a pointed look.

"I'm a psychopath, there I said it," Lily threw her arms up before she disappeared.

* * *

"That went well," Ziff grunted as they pushed Jack back into his prison.

"'Well' is an overstatement, James looked like he was about to have a heart attack," Aiden snorted.

"Can you blame him? He just found out that, _technically_, he almost killed Sirius, not the best thing to have on your conscious," Oliver snorted.

"Only technically he did," Max nodded.

"Thank you!"

"Doesn't mean I blame him," Max chuckled.

Aiden sighed and disappeared.

"What's got his knickers in a twist?" Canis asked.

"I think it's the fact that he actually _helped_ get Lilac back to her normal self," Cale chuckled.

"I'd be angry about that too if I was him, especially since I can't even remember the last time he helped someone without getting something in return," Ziff laughed.

"There's a first time for everything, Ziff," Canis chuckled.

"You never know, he could be a saint-in-secret," Oliver joked.

"Aiden? A saint-in-secret? Likely," Cale snorted.

* * *

Zee picked up the silver blade, watching herself in it's shining reflection, smirking.

**They will pay, both of them, there is no escape this time, **she thought wickedly as she resheathed the blade quickly and tied the belt around her waist.

"Zee," Lily growled in warning from behind her.

"What now Lily?" Zee snarled, not looking at her.

"I know what you're going to do and I want you to stop with your stupid vendetta against him! He can't even string two non-animalistic thoughts together and you _still_ plot to kill him!"

"He betrayed us all Lily, we don't know anything about his past, he could be a spy for Rogue for all we know."

"He's lost his mind, Zee! Even if he was I highly doubt he'd be any use to them now!" Lily cried, tears in her eyes.

"So you care for him now. How touching," Zee sneered.

"… I know you've been threatening Cale," Lily whispered.

"Who told you that?" Zee stiffened slightly.

"Lilac, though not directly, she told me you had taken on a new mission, and I instantly thought of Cale. It's not his fault she's gone Zee!" Lily screamed, a couple of tears running down her pale cheeks.

"Oh but it is, if it wasn't for him she'd still be here, Lily! She'd still be here to understand! Because you can't! You can't understand because you refuse to accept the fact that one day you will be in love! No matter how hard you try you will never understand me! You'll never understand yourself!"

"The longer I avoid Potter the longer I have to live, the longer I have to help others find their soul-mates! Look at Max, Canis, Oliver and Ziff! They haven't been in love either! They need it more than I do!"

"See, that's your problem Lily, you think of everyone before yourself! You don't consider yourself and by doing that you're unintentionally hurting everyone! Aiden only tricked you into that date because he knew it would be good for everyone, and maybe it would actually work, maybe he wouldn't be so screwed up inside!" Zee screamed, tears also trickling down her cheeks.

"How do you know that?" Lily asked in a hushed tone.

"I can see it in his eyes, he doesn't want to be the way he is, he never did, but because you continue to hurt and crush James he can't get any better, how you treat James, how you openly feel towards him, will reflect on Aiden, if you treat him well and love him to your full extent, Aiden will be relieved of the feelings of hurt and heartbreak, and maybe… maybe Lilac will get better too," Zee whispered in a broken voice.

"But what about Cale? And you?"

"My mess is fixable, Cale's, however, is not… but he has Kira and Mikayla, he also had his time with Cecilia and I know that's his most prized possession, his memories with Cecilia… I should know, my memories of her are also my most prized possession," Zee wept silently, staring directly into Lily's crying eyes.

"… I can't, I just can't, Zee," Lily shook her head, closing her eyes in an attempt to stop the tears.

"I never thought I'd see the day when you were scared of something, but, here we are, and I've discovered that you are actually afraid of many things, love and death among them, but, and I think this is one of the most prominent, you're afraid of James, afraid of what he could do to you."

"No, I'm afraid what _I'll_ do to _him_, if I let him in look what's going to happen to him! He'll end up like Cale, and it'll be my fault," tears ran down Lily's cheeks in small streams.

* * *

"Prongs?" Sirius called out as everyone started to leave.

"Hm?" James asked nervously, turning around.

"I need to talk to you."

James nodded nervously and walked over to him, Sirius trying not to laugh at his expression.

"Listen," Sirius started as the door closed, "it's not your fault, what happened, you didn't do it."

"Yeah, but-"

"But nothing, now I've got something to tell you mate, something brilliant, something I'm not meant to tell you, but you deserve to know," Sirius grinned from his seat.

"What?" James asked curiously.

"Pull up a chair and you'll find out,"

James did so, still the slightest bit anxious, and looked at Sirius questioningly.

"… Do you, per chance, know how to get Cale here?" Sirius asked James after a moment of thinking.  
"Really?" James chuckled, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, that was probably a stupid question," Sirius grinned.

"You're telling me," James snorted.

"Anyway, I can't get my point through without at least one of them… No! I need Aiden and Lilac!" Sirius' eyes brightened.

"From what I've gathered every time they're in a room together they're plotting to kill each other mentally," James snorted.

"I didn't get that until Lily told me, you special, special boy."

James gave Sirius a withering look before he shook his head, chuckling.

"Maybe I can do it without an example," Sirius mused.

"What?" James asked cautiously.

"Explain, anyway, you see… no, I can't… AIDEN! LILAC! GET YOUR ARSES IN HERE!"

"You don't seriously think that's going to work?" James raised an eyebrow.

"No, but maybe if you try…"

"No."

"Why not?" Sirius pouted.

'Because I don't want to be classified as a psychopath,' James thought to himself.

_What's this about you being psychotic?_ a voice asked curiously.

"Who said that?" James turned around, trying to find the source of the voice.

"What?" Sirius asked, confused.

"Didn't you…" James trailed off, even more confused than Sirius.

"No, I didn't hear anything, Prongs… maybe you're hearing things," Sirius shrugged.

_You're not,_ the voice said.

"There! Didn't you hear it?"

"No, are you sure you're alright Prongs?" Sirius asked bemusedly.

"I swear…"

_You're not going insane, James,_ the voice chuckled.

"It just told me I wasn't going insane Sirius…"

"We need to get you to a doctor."

"No you don't," Cale's head appeared upside down in between them, scaring them ever so slightly.

"Jesus!" Sirius yelled, clutching his heart.

"You think really loudly by the way James," Cale added, looking slightly miffed.

"How would you know?" James scowled.

"You didn't just ask me that," Cale groaned.

"I did… what of it?"

Cale sighed and climbed out of the portal, standing on the ground next to James' chair.

"It's an ability shape-shifter spirit pieces are given, well, one of a selection," Cale added distantly.

"What do you mean exactly?" Sirius asked, intrigued.

"There are a variety of different abilities, each piece has a different one, mine being telepathy, Aiden's being the control of age, making him basically immortal, and Jack's _was_ telekinesis, you know, until he lost it," Cale shrugged.

"What about Lily?" James asked.

"Lilac can change the size of things, Zee can morph her body into any form of matter in existence, and Cecilia could heal. Being the origin shape-shifters you and Lily can do everything your spirit pieces can, each piece can also control portals," Cale answered.

"Score Prongs," Sirius grinned.

"How are you taking this so well?" James asked him.

"Maybe because it's not me," Sirius laughed.

"Shut up," James narrowed his eyes.

Sirius barked out another laugh before turning to Cale again.

"Cale, old buddy, old pal, I need a favour…"

"No."

"Oh come one! You don't even know what I was going to ask!"

"You are going to ask me to show him," Cale smirked.

"How'd you know that?"

"I believe we just went over this, Pads," James laughed.

"Huh- oh yeah," Sirius' cheeks tinted pink.

Cale grinned but stopped almost instantly, seeing something move in the background behind Sirius.

He squinted at the curtain that had moved and, after a few moments, saw the outline of a bird, slowly changing into something else…

"Get down," Cale hissed, morphing quietly back to a lion.

"Why?" James asked.

"Just do it," he growled, jumping up onto Sirius' bed and looking intensely at the shape moving behind the curtain, the creature has completed the transformation they wanted and slowly moved something from off of their shoulder, as well as something from their back.

Cale didn't know what it was until he heard the _twang_ of the string being released.

Reacting on instincts alone he shoved Sirius onto the floor and grabbed the arrow in his jaws, crushing it into splinters of wood, feathers and it's metal head.

He quickly spat out the arrow remains and ran towards the curtain, ripping it off of the hooks keeping it in place to uncover…

"Nothing…" James said, confused.

"… Run, we've got to go find the others," Cale said, wide-eyed as he began to move swiftly to the great double doors, Sirius and James following quickly.

"You didn't think you'd get away from me as easily again, did you lion?" the raven cawed wickedly as it landed in front of them, the moment before they reached the door.

He did it so quickly that Sirius and James barely had time to process what happened, but they did, and they were slightly pale afterwards.

What Cale had done was simply crush the bird in his jaws faster than anyone could tell him not to, not really caring that he'd just killed the bird.

"You-you killed it!" Sirius gaped.

"No, I sent the spirit back to the mortal he belonged to, see," Cale said as the raven rose again, but more ghost-like this time, and flew out through the wall.

Sirius and James' eyes followed the raven until it could be seen no more, mouths almost touching the floor.

"There's a war going on, a war against us." Cale said darkly before he dashed out the door.


	6. Chapter 6- The Princess and The Peasant

"War? What do you mean war?" Sirius asked.

"Well, after Cecilia died was when Lily was at her weakest, so they overthrew her and now she's technically the most wanted shape-shifter in England," Cale answered, pushing open the doors with his head and slinking through cautiously.

"But _why_?" James asked as he and Sirius stepped walked through the doorway nosily.

"Shh! And it's because she's not cruel like the rest of them, she's only young I suppose, not old and wrinkled."

"But why do they have to be cruel?" Sirius frowned.

"I don't know, it never used to be like this according to the records, but don't ask me about that, we've got to get to the annex on the sixth floor, that's where everyone'll be, now come on, who knows what's happened out here if that raven was in the infirmary," Cale said darkly as he slunk through the corridors.

* * *

"Lily," Mikayla whispered, grabbing onto the older girls arm.

"Yes Mikayla?" Lily asked softly.

"I'm scared, why are they here? What do they want?" her large silver doe eyes brimmed with tears as they looked into Lily's emerald ones.

"I don't know, Mikie, but you'll be safe here, I promise nothing bad will happen to anyone while I'm still alive," Lily smiled.

"What about mum? Where is she?" Kira piped up worriedly.

"You-you-you don't know?" Lily choked.

"Know what?" Mikayla asked.

"Nothing," Lily swallowed her tears, continuing to be strong like always, "now, I have to go find your uncles and aunts, so, please, stay here and keep quiet, everything will be alright, I swear," Lily smiled as she quietly opened the annex door and slipped out, closing it behind her before she ran off to find the others.

* * *

Two animals stood in the shadows of the woods, one large and powerful, the other small and lean.

_**When, master? **_the larger hissed.

_Not yet, my pet, not yet, _the smaller said wickedly, _we will wait for the evening, if my incompetent army succeeded._

The larger one nodded stiffly and ran off silently, leaving the smaller alone and smirking wickedly.

* * *

"Zee! Lilac! Marlene! Remus! Ziff! Oliver! Sirius! Max! Canis! Potter! Aiden! Cale!" Lily cried as she ran though the house, desperately trying to find her family… and James.

"Lily!" Lilac rounded the corner, carrying an unconscious Zee across her shoulders.

"Get to the annex! I'll find the others!" Lily ordered as she ran past Lilac.

"Will do!" Lilac called after her, heaving Zee up again as she began to slip before moving as fast as possible towards the annex.

* * *

Kira looked at her twin worriedly, never before had she seen Mikayla so scared, and it was starting to get to her.

"Kira? What do you think Lily meant about mama?" Mikayla asked wide-eyed.

"I-I don't know Kay, maybe she got hurt or something at work? Maybe she got lost?" Kira suggested.

"I hope so," Mikayla whispered.

"Hey, don't worry Mik, I'm sure she's okay," Kira smiled crookedly.

"Well I'm not okay?" Mikayla snapped.

"… Long ago, there was a princess, the most beautiful princess in the world, she had everything she could ever want, but she had a gift as well, she could heal any injury, maybe even death, but there was a catch, she would take on the injury she healed, of course the injuries healed almost instantly on her because of her gift and princess blood," Kira grinned.

"Really?" Mikayla asked curiously.

"Really! And, one day, she was in the local town, buying some apples from a stall, she was in disguise so no one would recognise her, so she could experience a different type of day, anyway, as she was taking the money out of her money-pouch, a bad man came up and took the pouch, she cried out 'HEY!' but no one came to her aid, they all had their own problems, or so she thought. As the man was about to turn around the corner another man grabbed the bad man by his shirt, stopping him before he was gone forever, he told the man to give back the money or else, the bad man, obviously scared of the good one, immediately gave the money back to the princess and apologised many times, saying he was sincerely sorry and he would never do it again, the princess forgave him before turning to the good man, hiding behind his kind of long fringe.

"'Thank you kind sir, please take this as a token of my gratitude,' she said to him, handing him her royal handkerchief.

"'Oh, I am no sir, miss, I am just a mere peasant,' the man chuckled, refusing the handkerchief.

"'But you helped me, I am in your debt,' she curtsied.

"'It was nothing, you owe me nothing, I live to please the royal court,' he winked mischievously.

"'H-how did you know?' the princess gasped, letting the hood of her cloak fall, revealing her spectacular and well-known features.

"'I am like you, princess, though still a peasant,' he said this in a low tone so only they could hear. The princess gasped and the peasant chuckled. From that day on they constantly met up, even though the queen denied them a relationship, so they met in secret, until the queen finally allowed it, they were married within the week and given another two months the couple were expecting a baby, much to the displeasure of the queen and her two other sisters. They lived happily ever after together with many children, and, eventually, the queen and her sisters found themselves husbands, finally understanding the true importance of love," Kira finished, smiling faintly.

"Is it true?" Mikayla asked, wide-eyed.

"Who knows," Kira smiled wider.

At that moment Cale walked through the door to the annex, with James and Sirius behind him looking slightly confused and shocked.

"What've you two been up to then?" Cale asked, amused, as they changed forms and pounced on him playfully.

"Kira told me a story about a princess and a peasant!" Mikayla giggled.

"Oh really? Do tell me about this story, Kira," Cale's eyes sparked with fatherly love.

"… You're the peasant!" Kira realised, wide-eyed.

Cale sent her a questioning look before it changed to a cautious one.

"Who told you that story?" he asked slowly.

"Aunty Zee, why?" Kira asked, her excitement dying down.

A look of extreme pain flashed through Cale's eyes, but it was so brief no one had the time to register it.

"I-I have to go help Lily, James and Sirius will entertain you," Cale said before he ran out the door, no one saw the lone tear run down his furry cheek either, and for that he was thankful.

* * *

"Woah there, brother! What's got you in such a rush? And the annex is _that way_ I might add," Lilac said, raising an eyebrow.

"Tell Zee to stop putting stories in their heads, especially semi-true stories," Cale growled to mask the desperate sadness.

"Cale… what happened?" Lilac said gently, leaning Zee against a wall and reaching out to stop Cale as he ran passed.

"Why would you care?" Cale spat harshly, causing Lilac to wince, as he slammed on the breaks and stopped in front of her.

"Hey, remember, I hate Aiden, not you, now tell me," Lilac smiled weakly.

"Zee's just putting stories almost too true into their heads, they'll realise within a week that I've lied to them about their mother."

"What do you mean?" Lilac asked.

"I never told them about Cecilia, nothing other than that Mikayla looks just like her… I never told them she was dead, in their minds she's always working, gets home late, gets up early, sometimes never comes home if they stay up late to try and see her, the point is they still think she's alive and if Zee goes around telling them stories about her they'll piece it together, and I don't want that, I want them to at least think they had a mother for a bit of their lives before I tell them."

"But how do they think they have a mother still? If they've never seen her that is?"

"I left notes in my Lily-writing,"

"I remember that, I still can't believe you wanted to learn Lily's hand writing so you could send James that note," Lilac chuckled sadly.

"Yeah, well… maybe we shouldn't've taught Canis, eh?" Cale said sadly before trotting off.

"What…" Lilac muttered before she picked Zee back up and started to walk towards the annex again, confused beyond belief.

* * *

"Where's Canis?" Aiden asked worriedly, looking around, noticing he wasn't in the annex.

"He saw Cale and took off," Ziff shrugged.

Aiden groaned but halfway through his face lit up.

Turning to Lilac he said, "You finished at least one right?" with a raised eyebrow.

"Who do you think I am? I finished them all literally the _day_ before," Lilac smirked.

"Of course you did," Aiden rolled his eyes, irritated, before he disappeared.

"I swear if you touch them Aiden!" Lilac roared.

"Touch what? These?" Aiden appeared, holding a hessian sack in his left hand, a smirk on his face.

"You… you… you SNAKE!" Lilac screamed.

"Wrong person, Petal, that would be Cale," Aiden smirked again.

Lilac clenched her fists, reminding herself that there were children in the room and she could not attempt to kill him while they were there.

"I. Am. Not. Fragile!" she screamed.

Aide smirked wider and walked out the door.

"AIDEN!" Lilac shrieked.

"Yes Lilac?" the stag stuck his silver decorated head through the door, still smirking.

"YOU'VE USED THEM BEFORE HAVEN'T YOU?" she shrilled.

"You're not as dumb as you look," Aiden said wickedly.

"I'm a whole lot smarter than you, Zee's out of it, easy pickings," Lilac smirked.

Suddenly her whole body was set aflame as she smirked at Aiden who just shook his head in disbelief.

"And we're back to being as stupid as you look, Jack's also gone, and you know what that means, wet embers," Aiden smirked, not a very natural looking thing on a stag, but, hey, he somehow managed to pull it off.

"Where will you get the water from?" Lilac smirked.

"Maybe from that vase over there."

"'Maybe from that vase over there'," Lilac mimicked, scowling.

Aiden sent her a flat look before he dumped the water over her, the water steaming off of Lilac as it hit her flaming skin.

"AIDEN!" Lilac screamed, chasing after him as he took off again.

* * *

"Cale?" Lily screamed.

"Yes?" he asked calmly.

"Why aren't you in the annex with the others?" she narrowed her eyes.

"You can't do it by yourself Lily, and I know Aiden's coming to, Lilac too probably," Cale rolled his eyes.

"I can, and you have to up there to tell everyone what's going on," she scowled impatiently.

"No I don't."

"Yes you do," Lily snapped.

"No I don't."

"Yes, you do!"

"What's gotten you so wound up? Geez…"

"It's not on your head if something goes wrong, it's on mine, and, quite frankly, many things have been going wrong since you backed out Cale!"

"So you're blaming _me_?" Cale glared.

"No! I'm saying you weren't there! No one was! Even Aiden wasn't! He had to take care of Lilac and keep attempting to contact the others without making mistakes that could hurt them! I had to deal with it alone! I couldn't even talk to Marlene! I had to act as if nothing had happened! I've had to be strong every second of every day of every ruddy year, Cale! ALONE!" Lily bellowed, tears running freely down her cheeks.

* * *

"Uncle Padfoot?" Kira asked curiously.

"Kira…" Sirius answered carefully.

"Everyone answers like that, it's all Uncle Aiden's fault," Kira huffed, crossing her arms, scowling.

"Hey, you're the one who scared him," Max shrugged.

"Be quiet!" Kira glared.

"Note: do not cross younger twin, temper like her aunt," Ziff chuckled.

"Huh?" Kira asked, confused.

"What's so 'huh' about it? Lilac's temper is even worse than Lily's," Oliver chuckled lightly.

"Nothing, it's just dad told us her temper came from his side," Mikayla shrugged.

"James? Temper? Don't be ridiculous," Ziff laughed.

"What about Aiden?" Remus interjected.

"That's not temper, that's pent up frustration and a whole load of other things," Canis shrugged.

"Such as?" Marlene smirked at James wickedly.

"How am I meant to know what goes up in that head of his? I'm not Cale," Canis threw his arms up.

"Someone better explain what's going on before I pass out because of all the unanswered questions in my head," Marlene said impatiently.

"Oh, Cale's a telepathist," Oliver shrugged.

"You say it like it's not a big deal," Remus blinked.

"You think that's good? Jack was a telekinetic, you know, before he was sent to prison and turned all animalistic," Ziff shrugged.

"I don't think you're helping James get over the fact that part of him has no human mind," Sirius laughed at his best friend, who looked like his brain was melting all over again.

"What about Aiden then?" Marlene asked.

"He controls age, don't know how far forward or backward it goes though, the furthest back we went was, I think, two weeks, then the furthest forward was eighty something, we're really ugly as eighty year olds Sirius," Canis chuckled.

"No!" Sirius cried dramatically.

"'Fraid so, mate," Max chuckled.

"But you should see James! Falls asleep every three seconds, then Remus," Canis cackled, "Remus can't read!"

"WHAT?" Remus cried.

"Yep, you need glasses but they don't work and you're unable to read, it's hilarious," Max grinned.

"My life… WASTED!"


	7. Chapter 7- Growth

"Oh my god! LILY!" Marlene cried as her best friend walked in… missing a limb, namely her left arm from the elbow.

"I meant to heal that," Lily muttered to herself before producing the missing limb from behind her back and putting it back into place, circling her fingers around it, leaving them there for a second before taking them away, revealing the limb to be completely attached and functional.

They all blinked in shock before remembering what she'd told them and shuddering, still unnerved all the same.

"Anyway, Kira, Mikayla, if you were your father, where would you be?" Lily asked casually.

"Um… some place with water?" Mikayla suggested.

"… Of course!" Lily ran out of the room at her top speed.

"She lost dad didn't she?" Kira asked Mikayla curiously.

"Yep."

* * *

"Cale!" Lily cried, running through the sand of the private beach, part of her lands.

The lion in question was swimming in the water, cleaning his rather disgusting wounds.

"Yes Lily?" Cale asked tiredly after he returned to the shore, dripping from head to paw, his wounds reasonably cleaner.

"You're not alone anymore, I can do that for you," she frowned, reaching forwards to touch his head, but he moved out of the way.

"I was never _alone_," he scowled.

"Maybe, maybe not," Lily tried to heal him again.

"I don't need you to heal them Lily! They're only scratches!" he growled.

"I was only trying to help…" Lily whispered guiltily.

"I know, but I don't need it, I'm sure Aiden and Lilac need it though, so just go find them," he turned away from her and started to walk off.

"What about Kira and Mikayla?" Lily followed him.

"I'm coming back, I just… want to be alone for once, _truly_ alone," he added, sensing her train of thought.

"… Alright, but don't come back later than an hour," Lily warned before she disapperated.

"Yes, _mother_," Cale chuckled to himself before returning to the soothingly cold salt water.

* * *

"Oh come on Aiden! Please!" Marlene whined.

"For the last time, no!" he looked up from his work and glared at her.

"Why?"

"I could give you all of a hundred reasons," he snorted before returning to his report.

"Give me five," Marlene challenged.

"Lily would kill me, I could kill you, I would kill me, Lilac could kill you, Lilac could _attempt_ to kill me," Aiden said without looking up.

"It's funny how all your reasons involve death," Marlene pointed out.

"You don't even know how to defend yourself," Aiden scoffed.

"Try me," Marlene challenged.

"Are you sure that's a good plan Marlene?" Canis snorted.

"And why isn't it?" she scowled.

"Even _we_ don't challenge Aiden, the only one stupid enough is Lilac," Ziff chuckled.

"OI!" Lilac glared.

"We only do when Lily makes us, which, truthfully, isn't often," Max grinned.

If anyone was actually looking at the person they were arguing over they would have noticed the tiny amused smile that graced his face.

"What's going on in here?" Lily walked through the doorway to the annex, "I could hear arguing from two floors down, Lilac, Aiden…" Lily trailed off suspiciously.

"I wasn't even part of this!" Lilac cried.

"Lily! Thank Merlin you're here!" Marlene sighed in relief.

"What's going on?" Lily asked cautiously.

"I want to be able to defend myself but no one will teach me!"

"Alright, who'd you ask?"

"Aiden."

"There's your problem!"

"Excuse me?" Aiden turned around, affronted.

"When was the last time you taught someone self-defence Aiden?" Lily scoffed.

"I taught myself."

"Teaching yourself and someone else are completely different."

Aiden scowled and turned back to his report.

"Please Lily! I feel weak now!" Marlene complained.

"How do you feel weak?" Lily laughed.

"There's a window."

"I'm sorry Marlene, we're not going to teach you, you'll just have to take classes or something, sorry," Lily sighed.

Marlene visibly deflated and Lily winced.

"It's alright."

"… Stuff it I'm teaching you," Lilac threw her arms up before grabbing Marlene by the wrist and dragging her out of the annex.

"Lilac, teach someone? I've got to see this!" Oliver rubbed his hands together before running after them.

"Wait up Oliver!" Max, Canis and Ziff ran after him, grinning and laughing.

"If they've all gone it must be good," Sirius grinned, dragging Remus and James out with him, leaving Lily, Kira, Mikayla and Aiden.

* * *

"Aunty Lily?" Kira asked after she was sure they were a good distance away.

"Kira?" Lily quirked an eyebrow questioningly.

"Why- why did dad leave when we mentioned Aunt Zee?"

"What do you mean Kira? And where is Zee? I saw Lilac take her here."

"She left when she woke up, I don't know where she is though," Kira shrugged.

"Alright, now what did you mean?"

"Oh, well, awhile ago Aunt Zee visited us when dad was out and told me a story about a princess and a peasant, I told it to Mikayla just before dad came in, and when we told him who told us the story he left."

"Well, your father and aunt are going through a rough patch at the moment, it'll turn out all right, I promise," at this Aiden snorted quietly to himself.

"Where's daddy?" Mikayla asked, her eyes wide with fright.

"He's just gone out for an hour, he'll be back soon," Lily said softly.

Mikayla nodded and Lily's eyes sparked, an idea forming in her brain.

"I've got an idea you two, want to hear it?"

The twins nodded excitedly and Lily grinned, morphing into a lioness.

* * *

"Alright, you're a pureblood right?" Lilac asked as they walked out onto the expansive front lawn.

"Yeah… what does that have to do with anything?" Marlene asked, confused.

"Everything and nothing. You would've been taught how to dance so we'll start like that, catch," Lilac threw Marlene a shrunken sheathed sword from out of her pocket, taking another for herself, resizing them both.

"And since you don't even have nails you're going to have to start like this," Max barked out a laugh as Marlene fumbled with the sword's sheath.

"Wha-"

"Think fast!" Lilac barked, swiping the air in front of Marlene once with her already unsheathed sword.

Instinctively Marlene put the sword in front of her to try and block Lilac's, but by the time she had Lilac had already drawn her sword back, shaking her head.

"And I thought you played Quidditch," she sighed.

Marlene flushed and Ziff spoke up.

"Go easy on her Lila! She's only little!"

"Hey! I'm not little!" Marlene swivelled around and glared at Ziff heatedly.

"Not little as in short or young, he meant little skilled, no offence or anything," Lilac shrugged.

Marlene flushed again and Lilac snickered.

"Alright, alright, position your feet like this," Lilac said as she moved her left foot forwards and right foot backwards, like she was on a surfboard.

Marlene copied and looked to Lilac for correction, Lilac only nodded.

"Now change it so your feet are facing forwards, yes, like that, hold your sword out in front of you like this…"

* * *

"Hey James," Max nudged him.

"Yeah?" he asked carefully.

"Look who it is," Max grinned, indicating over his shoulder.

James looked behind him and saw three lionesses, two cubs and one adult.

He squinted and managed to make out a brilliant shade of green as the adult's eyes.

"Lily," James breathed longingly.

"Ah, but look a bit closer and you'll see what they're doing," Max smirked.

"Just tell me," James mumbled.

"Watch until they catch you, then you'll find out," Max attempted to hide his smirk.

"She'll kill me won't she?"

"No, just watch," Max chuckled.

James turned around again, unsure, and found that the three of them were beckoning him over.

"They are, you lie!" James hissed, slightly panicked.

"No, just go, I'll cover for you," Max snorted, shoving him away.

"She's going to kill me," James shook his head.

"If she was going to she wouldn't've brought Kira and Mikayla, go!"

"She hates me."

"No… just go!" Max muttered, frustrated.

James shook his head and Max growled at him, frustrated.

"Did you just-"

"Yes, I did, so go before I bite you. Don't put it past me," Max warned, his tone joking but underneath that he was completely serious.

"Fine, but if I die, remember, it's your fault," James muttered before slowly backing away.

Max grinned and turned back to Lilac's failed attempt at teaching Marlene to use a sword.

* * *

"Potter! Glad you could trust Max eventually!" Lily grinned.

"So you're not going to kill me?"

"And _that's_ what took you so long, follow me," Lily rolled her eyes, trotting away.

Mikayla and Kira quickly jumped onto her back and grinned to each other, apparently accomplishing some great feat.

James quickly caught up to them and sent Lily a confused look.

"Where're we going?" he asked.

Instead of answering his question Lily asked one of her own, "What was your first sign of magic, Potter?"

"Er… why?"

"Just answer me," Lily said impatiently, morphing her upper half into human form, her only clothing a wrap of golden maple leaves around her bust.

"Er… we-well," James stuttered, trying not to look at all the clear, porcelain skin that had just been revealed.

"Any day now," Lily tapped her left paw impatiently.

"I-I f-fell in a lake 'nd-"

"And _**what**_?"

"It's a b-bit embarrassing really," his face was completely scarlet by now.

"Spit it out! When, what, who saw?" Lily narrowed her eyes.

James swallowed and continued.

"I was six and the moment I was underwater my legs were, er… different…"

"Potter…" Lily said warningly.

"They transformed into a fish tail, and it was only my mother who saw, Merlin, it was embarrassing," he breathed.

"Huh… were there any other incidents like this?" Lily raised an eyebrow, hands on hips.

"Er… when I was nine I accidentally crashed into a tree on my broom and a pair of wings sprouted from my back, my father saw that one."

"Alright, I know where we're going now," Lily nodded before she began walking again, down a side corridor.

"Where?" James gulped, eyes accidentally wandering down Lily's curvy form.

"Air and Water, they should've been obvious," she muttered the last part to herself.

"Why?" James asked curiously.

"Cale loves water, Aiden loves going fast, or to feel the wind rushing around him, haven't quite figured out which yet," Lily replied as they turned down a maze of different corridors until they reached a door.

"Alright, come on," Lily beckoned him through the door after Kira and Mikayla.

"There's only wall behind it," James pointed out.

"You ask too many questions," Lily muttered, grabbing his arm and pulling him through the door.

"Where are we? How did we even get here?" James asked, looking around.

They were standing in a large, open, grassed area, a large lake in front of them, but, in the distance, James could make out a mop of green foliage, though he wasn't sure what it was exactly.

Behind them was a large green field, tall grass all over as well as a couple of tall trees.

"Never mind that," Lily brushed him off, moving around so his back was facing her.

"Can we go explore Aunty Lily?" Kira asked, transforming back, as did Mikayla.

"Of course, just stay where you can see us," Lily answered distractedly.

"Thanks!" Kira grinned before she tugged Mikayla towards the field.

After a moment of studying James's back Lily pulled his shirt off in one fluent motion.

James tried to turn around to look at her but she held his shoulders so he couldn't.

"What're you doing?" James asked nervously as she began to trail her fingers lightly around his shoulder blades.

"Trying to figure out where they'll some from…" Lily said in her distracted manner.

"Found it," Lily muttered after a few minutes, poking a sensitive place at the edge of his shoulder blades, sending shivers all around his body.

"Did that hurt? Tickle? Make you shiver? Or was it same-same?" Lily asked.

"Er… shiver…" James answered nervously.

"Hmm," Lily mumbled, stroking the sensitive areas with the back of her nails.

"Wh-what are you doing?" James stammered, trying to stop his voice sounding breathy or husky.

"Trying to coax them closer to the surface," Lily muttered.

"You're coaxing something," James muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" Lily asked.

"Nothing, nothing… wait… what exactly are you trying to do?"

"The wings," Lily muttered, watching his back intensely for any sign of anything.

James chose not to say anything and tried to ignore the feeling of her nails on his back that was seriously turning him on.

"Alright," Lily said after what felt like a painful eternity to James but in reality was about two or three minutes, "I think I've got them close enough, just try and get them fully out," Lily walked in front of him.

"What? How?" James said in a strained voice.

"_I_ had to concentrate as hard as I could but it should be easier for you," Lily said, slightly annoyed.

"And why's that?" James asked cautiously.

"Animagi; being a shape-shifter's why you got it first, because you were already half way there, and why you got sick almost every time you drank one of the potions or something strange happened almost every time you had a spell performed on you," Lily said.

"So, just imagine them?"

"No, you have to will them to grow out," Lily said patiently.

"Alright…" James breathed.

"Maybe just move over here," Lily dragged him gently over to the waters edge and sat him down.

"Why?" James asked.

"You'll understand," Lily smiled before she changed her legs back and sat down next to him her legs half in the water, though now she was wearing a white tank top and short board shorts.

"Okay," Lily said softly, "Try now."

James closed his eyes tight and started to imagine and will the wings to grow out.

After a minute of willing he felt a splitting pain in his back and accidentally cried out.

"Shh, it's alright," Lily soothed, tracing soft circles around the sensitive place on the edge of his shoulder blades, where two small bumps were now slightly visible.

"What was that?"

"Just a bone movement," Lily said calmly, "Keep going."

And so he tried again, the pain grew as the bumps did, until they were long, strong, jointed, skin and flesh-covered bones erupting from his back with about ten or so thinner and smaller ones dangling down, strung together with flimsy flaps of skin.

"You're doing great, only the feathers left," Lily reassured, rubbing his back gently.

"What a normal thing to say," James said in a pained voice.

Lily smiled and softly touched the new limbs, her touch was feather light, but even that was enough for James to have to suck in a breath of pain.

"Sorry," she apologised, quickly retracting her fingers.

"It's alright," he breathed as he willed the feathers to grow, experiencing a slow piercing pain in the new skin and muscle.

That's when he felt the trickling, it ran off the wings in little streams, some dropping off the smaller bones instantly, but others ran down the main stem and trickled down his back.

Lily calmly cupped some of the water in her hands and poured it down his back slowly, and then pouring another handful carefully on the base of his wings, which now had small bumps covering them, splitting the skin as feathers forced themselves through.

* * *

When the feathers couldn't grow any further Lily told James that he could stop, slowly washing his back and new wings of blood.

"They're clean now, you can look," Lily said softly, rubbing his back gently.

James removed his hands from his hair and opened his eyes.

Lily helped him stand up and turn around to see his reflection in the water.

The moment James' eyes saw his reflection his heart stopped beating for a moment before restarting.

Large, wet, white wings splayed from behind him, give him a halo and he might've looked like an angel.

James looked to his right and saw the white wings – _his_ white wings – ruffle in the slight breeze.

Lily meanwhile was inspecting them carefully, estimating the wingspan, the stretch of skin in between them, the length from the top to the bottom.

"They'll be a bit sore so I wouldn't try and use them, maybe just leave them for awhile before practising putting them away," Lily advised softly as she saw him attempt to move them.

James jumped, forgetting, for the first time since he'd met her, about the fact that she existed.

He nodded and turned around to face her, almost falling over because of the extra weight of his new wings, but Lily caught him and righted him before he could kiss the ground.

"Thanks," James grinned as he regained his balance.

"No problem," Lily replied evenly.

"So, what're we doing now?" he asked.

"Well, by the looks of it, finding our nieces," Lily sighed, looking around for the terrible twosome.

"Brilliant!"

"Don't even think of trying those wings out! They're still wet and weak!" Lily reprimanded.

"Oh come on Lily! Please!"

"No!" Lily scowled.

"Why not?" James pouted.

"Because if you fall and hurt yourself I'll get in serious trouble," Lily narrowed her eyes, "And anyway, they're not ready, _you're_ not ready."

"And how aren't they ready?" James challenged.

"They need to be preened, strengthened, examined!" Lily exclaimed.

"And why would that be?" James asked.

"The preening gets rid of all the unwanted feathers that hinder you in flight, that needs to be done at least once every two months. Your wings are too weak to even lift you off the ground at the moment and I need to examine them to make sure they're the right size for you, sometimes they can grow too big or too small, you need to get the perfect alignment and… oh never mind, you couldn't lift yourself anyway, let alone know how to, why am I fretting?" Lily said the last part mostly to herself.

"Because you're taking out the fretting of losing Kira and Mikayla?" James guessed.

"Probably," Lily mumbled before transforming into a beagle and racing off, nose to the ground, trying to track their scent.

* * *

"She'll never find us here," Kira giggled quietly as she peeked over the top of the log and watched Lily fret.

"I think she will," Mikayla said.

"No she won't," Kira argued.

"She will."

"Will not."

"Will."

"Not."

"Will."

"NOT! SHE WILL NOT!" Kira screamed out of frustration.

"Good afternoon Kira," Lily narrowed her eyes, her head hanging over the top of the log all of a sudden, giving Kira and Mikayla quite a fright.

"Look at what you did!"

"Hey! You were the one yelling!" Mikayla glared.

"I thought I told you two to stay where you could see me?" Lily scowled.

"We could see you, you just couldn't see us," Mikayla pointed out.

"Alright, new rule, you two have to be able to see me and _I_ have to be able to see _you two_," Lily sighed.

"Fine," Kira sighed dramatically.

"Good," Lily said before turning back to her human form and walking back to James by the lake.

When she reached him however she screamed.

"What? What is it?" James asked.

"What. Did. You. Do?" Lily shrilled.

"What?" James asked.

Lily stormed over and shoved him towards the water again so he could see.

"… Why are they larger and black?" James asked Lily curiously.

"I don't know! What did you do?"

"How would I know?" James asked her.

"I don't know! The colour is probably because of your hair, but that doesn't explain the size!" Lily panicked.

"Does it matter?" James sighed.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, Potter, it does!"

"Why? Why does it matter?"

"Even the slightest change of your standard wings has a meaning and most of them aren't good!" Lily fretted.

James gave her an exasperated look.

"Put them away," Lily said quickly.

"How?" James sighed.

"The same way you grew them, it should be less painful, but I don't know!"

"Alright, calm down, Lily," James chuckled, closing his eyes and willing the wings to retreat.

"I don't believe it! No way! There is no way you got it so soon! It took me about the rest of the day to get my first wings back in!" Lily muttered to herself.

James grinned, surprisingly satisfied at beating Lily at something.

"What're we doing now?" he asked.

"If you're up to it we could work on Water," Lily scowled.

"Before that, could I, possibly, see your wings?" he asked hopefully.

"Fine," Lily sighed.

Quick as a flash two monstrous wings erupted from Lily's shoulder blades, a sterling silver at the top, fading into brilliant gold at the bottom.

James' jaw was literally touching the ground and Lily had to fight the urge to smirk.

Though instead she started to flap them, lifting herself off of the ground and hovering herself over the water about halfway out.

Within another second the wings were gone and instead she had a decorative, red fishtail, bright orange seaweed covering her bust now.

The moment she changed she started to fall, though she hit the water in a perfectly executed dive, smirking at James as she resurfaced.

James blinked and Lily laughed at him, a beautiful tinkling sound, and swam over to the shore, James noted, as she came closer, that she had gills either side of her neck.

"What are you waiting for? An invitation?" Lily snorted as she reached the shore.

After she received no reply she sighed before she leapt up and grabbed his forearm, pulling him roughly into the water head first as she fell.

"Woah!"

When he was fully submerged under the water he saw Lily, grinning manically and laughing at him.

"What?" James asked, completely forgetting he was underwater.

Lily rolled her eyes and pointed to his legs, or where they would have been if not for the long, black fishtail in their place.

"Is this what happened last time?" Lily raised an eyebrow.

"Yes…" James answered suspiciously, moving his hand to touch his neck to confirm his suspicions, but Lily quickly swam forward and swatted his hand away from his neck.

"Don't do that! You'll hurt yourself!" she scolded.

"Aw Lily, you care," James grinned.

"Ugh," Lily crinkled her nose up and swam away in a flash until James couldn't see her anymore.

"Hey! Lily! Come back!" James yelled, "How am I even speaking?" he asked himself in an undertone.

James groaned and looked down at the tail he had no idea how to manoeuvre.

'Now what did Lily do?' he thought to himself.

Must_ you think so loudly?_ an irritated voice echoed in his head.

'Thank Merlin! Cale! Do you have any idea about how to swim with a fishtail?' James thought desperately.

_How would I know?_ Cale snorted.

'Ask Lily! She left me in a lake without any idea about how to move this thing!'

_Fine…_ Cale sighed exasperatedly.

'Thank you!' James thought in relief.

_She said to figure it out, sorry mate,_ Cale told him.

'I need more information than that!' James groaned.

But Cale had left his mind already.

"Right, I'm close to the surface so it shouldn't be that hard to move a few inches," James muttered to himself, looking down intensely at his tail, as if it would move from his stare.

… It didn't.


	8. Chapter 8- Secrets

Aiden was trying to write his report, key word, _trying_, but he kept getting distracted by the spectacle that was taking place directly out the window he was sitting behind; Lilac attempting to teach Marlene sword fighting.

He didn't know what it was, but something about her just made his anger flare, more than anything else ever could, this just made him even more frustrated.

Maybe it was just him, maybe nothing was wrong with her, but him… it wouldn't have been a surprise to him, or anyone else for that matter, he'd always known he had problems, something wrong with his head, something that screwed him up so badly.

Cale hadn't gotten it, neither had Jack, it was just him, he was the bad traits, people told their children never to go near him from just giving a millisecond long glance.

He was used to it, everyone hated him, everyone that was except his family, he was glad he had them; he didn't include Lilac as his family and he didn't really want to ever have to.

Two years ago he'd been hell bent on getting rid of her permanently, but after Cecilia's death, after Lilac had gone blank, as he called it, after Lily altered his personality so he could actually stand to help Lilac, he knew that, as much as he didn't like it, Lily, Lilac and Zee were the glue that held their odd family together, the death of Cecilia had separated them for almost a year, but when the other three died, there would be no more family, no more break from the hatred, no more love for Aiden, for any of them really; but for Aiden it was the worst.

He didn't want that; he didn't want to lose his family, he couldn't, not again.

* * *

_**He's not looking at you, Lilac, and he never will other than with a look of hatred, so stop deluding yourself!**_she thought furiously as she disarmed Marlene once more.

"I can't help you, I'm sorry," Lilac sighed, chancing one more look up at the window high above her, she could no longer see _his_ face looking out.

She wondered what he was thinking about, he had a habit of looking out into the distance as he thought.

Lilac quickly removed her eyes from the window and looked back at Marlene who was looking at her confusedly.

"What?" she snapped.

"What were you looking at?" everyone else had left quite a while ago, growing bored.

"Nothing," Lilac said, feeling a tear wanting to flow.

"You were looking up at that window," she pointed to the window.

"No I wasn't," Lilac scowled.

"You were! What's up there? Isn't that…?" Marlene trailed off as the face appeared in the window again, her eyes slightly wide.

"Yeah, it is," Lilac chuckled sadly as she took the swords, sheathed them before shrinking them and putting both in the right pocket of her shorts.

"But… I thought… You like him?" Marlene's eyes bugged out.

"… I used to," Lilac said softly, starting to walk into the forest.

"What do you mean you 'used to'?" Marlene ran after her.

"Exactly what I said."

"But…"

"He's not going to change his mind, so I just played along, sometimes the feeling would go, but most of the time it was still there."

"Does Lily know?"

"No, no one does, it's my problem, and my fault for falling for someone who'll never even look at me without hatred in his eyes," Lilac felt a tear trickle down her cheek slowly as they entered the forest, she quickly wiped it away.

"… What about now?" Marlene asked quietly.

"It was starting to pass just before Cecilia died," Lilac whispered, "but… when my mind collapsed, it was like I was watching my life play out, I saw how nice and calm and caring he could be… I didn't know… I thought he changed… I have a habit of being wrong about matters of the heart, all of us do, except Cecilia, she never inherited that trait; she was the good, the angel out of us…"

"And what were you and Zee?" Marlene asked tentatively.

"Zee was like the mortal I guess… I was the devil, everyone always referred to me as such, most of the time jokingly, but behind those jokes there was always a bit of truth, after all, I'm just the girl who makes snarky remarks in the background and tries to hurt the people they lo-like," Lilac said in a pained voice.

"No, you're not. You're a fighter, I've only known _about _you for about a week, even though you were 'blank' up until when, but I can still tell," Marlene said firmly.

Lilac shrugged.

"Maybe, maybe not."

* * *

The salty sea breeze ran through Cale's drying mane, blowing it slightly to the right.

He knew Lily would kill him, not being back in exactly one hour, but he couldn't leave this place, it held so many memories, so many secrets, it was almost a part of him, a part he used to share solely with his wife.

They'd only visited a couple of times during the pregnancy, once at two months, once at four months, after the incident.

Cale closed his eyes as he transformed back to his human body.

If he concentrated hard enough he could almost hear her angelic voice whispering to him, feel her delicate fingers brushing against his arms and hands, a faint scent ran around the air, spring blooms…

The breeze caressing his face seemed to be gentle, tiny hands.

As he opened his eyes memories started to play out around him, all in the places they had happened.

There was Cecilia, giggling at something he'd said by the shore. Laughing and squealing girlishly as he chased her across the sand. Locked in a passionate embrace at the end of the beach. Laying against him a few metres behind. Talking with him near the edge of the beach. Being tickled vigorously in the water, one of the few times he'd gotten her actually _in_ the water. Kissing him lovingly just in front. And then, at the shore again, the proposal, followed by long, promising kisses.

Further down they were sitting on the sand, Cecilia's head on his shoulder, his hand on her slightly swollen stomach, both staring out into the horizon, he remembered it was sunset when that had happened.

Cale felt tears leak out of his eyes and closed them, burying his head in his hands.

"Daddy?" a small voice asked from behind him.

"'Kayla? What're you doing here?" he turned around, smiling softly.

"Aunty Lily dropped me off, Kira was being difficult so she went back for her," Mikayla explained, wriggling into her father's lap, eyes heavily lidded from tiredness.

"Of course she was," Cale chuckled.

"… Daddy?" Mikayla asked curiously, looking up at her father's face, not noticing the heart-broken look in his eyes.

"Yes?"

"How old are you?"

"Why would you want to know that?"

"I… I don't know," Mikayla said.

"… 17, I'm 17."

"How old is mummy?"

"You're mother's 17 as well," Cale hated lying to them but he felt that they should have the illusion of having a mother for at least part of their lives.

* * *

Finally finishing his report, Aiden stood up and stretched his muscles, unconsciously looking out of the window; he just caught Lilac and Marlene walking out of the forest as he did.

He took another look, longer this time, and noted that Lilac looked, dare he believe it, lost.

But, instead of giving a curious look he did the thing that came naturally to him, he glared at her.

Sensing someone's gaze on her Lilac turned her head up to see Aiden's glare looking away instantly, not looking at him again.

Aiden glared at her until he couldn't see her anymore, feeling slightly calmer he walked out the door and towards his room, where he stored his secrets.

Some people had a special place they called a haven, this would usually be outside in a calming place, or inside in a blank room without sound, but, for Aiden, his safe haven was where no one would ever look for him, his safe haven was a small theatre/bar in Muggle London, the only reason Aiden was heading to his room was because he needed to change his appearance and clothes, in case anyone he or James knew was there.

Inside his room there was also his wallet, which he needed for ID, Muggle cash, driver's license, things like that.

He quickly changed into a black shirt and jeans, his hair to a longer dirty blonde, though it was still as messy as ever, his eyes to a chocolate brown, with contacts instead of glasses, and aged himself to around twenty-four, just so it would seem as if he was completely normal in the aging department.

Once he was finished he quickly apperated to the even darker alley next to the theatre, feeling like a whole other person.

* * *

"C'mon! I know what'll cheer you up!" Marlene grinned as she and a brunette Lilac with slightly lighter eyes walked through the back streets in Muggle London.

"I'm not sure Marlene…" Lilac said uncertainly.

"Oh come on! What's the worst that could happen?" Marlene scoffed.

"I could give you 53 reasons," Lilac replied.

Marlene rolled her eyes and continued to drag her down the alleyways until they reached their destination, _'La Chambre des mille mensonges'_ which roughly translated to 'The House of A Thousand Lies'.

"Interesting title…" Lilac nodded in approval as Marlene told her what it meant, grinning.

"I reckon it suits it, now come on! Let's go! There's this cute American bartender I want you to meet!' Marlene said excitedly before pulling Lilac into the building.

As Marlene forced her to enter Lilac took in the curious décor of the place, the far wall was covered in posters, large quotes from famous plays and novels, and even a bit of picture graffiti.

The wall to her right was on a slant, making it feel like the room was as well.

To her left was a, surprisingly, completely white wall with a projector in front of it.

And, finally, the wall behind them, decorated with notices and random paintings, most probably put there and painted by the regulars.

The furniture, however random it may be, seemed to fit the place, antique couches, elaborate bar stools near the neon bar where a tall, longish messy haired blonde twenty something was cleaning dishes, there were beanbags in the shapes of music notes, drama masks, things like that, by the white wall and projector, the lights were slightly dimmed, but not by much, the floor was dark oak, and there was a large poster covering it, advertising the times of what was playing later that day.

"Do you see him?" Marlene asked excitedly, snapping Lilac out of her reverie.

"Hm- who?" Lilac asked, confused.

"The bartender of course," Marlene laughed, pushing her over.

"GET SOME!" she yelled before disappearing into the crowd, leaving Lilac flushing in front of the chuckling bartender.

"I haven't seen you around before, though I've noticed you're Marlene's friend," he chuckled, his voice thickly accented American, like Marlene had said.

"More like a friend of a friend," Lilac shrugged.

"So, what's your name?" he asked, putting away a glass in a cupboard above his head.

"My name's L-Imogen, you?" she asked, thankfully he didn't notice her slip up.

"Ruben," he grinned, the corners of his eyes crinkling, accentuating a thin scar on his left side.

"… I don't mean to pry or anything, but how did you get that scar?" Lilac asked politely.

"Just a scuffle with a wild animal a while back, distant memories," Ruben shrugged.

"Oi! Ruben! Stop flirting and come and help me in the stock room!" an irritated male voice yelled from the door a few metres away from them.

"Well, unless you're buying anything, I better go," Ruben chuckled, slapping the tea towel he was using to dry the glasses on his shoulder before heading off with a slight sly smirk.

The moment he left Lilac sighed and Marlene appeared behind her, smirking.

"I knew you'd have fun! You have him wrapped around your finger! I've been trying to do that since summer started," Marlene mock-glared.

"I do not," Lilac snorted.

"You do! You're just too blind by something to see it! My main suspect here is logic!"

"That was completely… just no," Lilac shook her head.

Marlene laughed and winked as she noticed Ruben appear again, before she disappeared into the crowd once more.

"Hello again," Ruben grinned.

"Hi," Lilac said distractedly, glaring at Marlene.

Noticing the glare Ruben chuckled.

"What happened there?"

"Nothing," Lilac tore her glare away and looked back at Ruben.

"… So, why're you here? Relationship problems?" Ruben raised an eyebrow.

"More like lack of the relationship itself," Lilac sighed, putting her head on the bench exasperatedly.

"Oh really?" Ruben chuckled.

"Yeah, what about you?" Lilac looked up at Ruben, keeping her head on the bench.

"Not really interested in anyone," he shrugged.

"So it's not the fact that no one likes you… it's that you don't like anyone?" Lilac asked.

"In a nutshell, yes."

"Sounds an awful lot like someone I know," Lilac grumbled.

"Really? Well who is this unfortunate person?"

"A-Alex, his name's Alex," Lilac fumbled.

"Hmm… well, personally, I think you could do much better than that guy, he sounds like a jerk," Ruben smiled crookedly.

"I guess, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm almost in love with him," Lilac blew her brown hair out of her eyes.

"We choose the love we think we deserve, maybe you _do_ have a choice," Ruben said seriously, but with a smile.

"I doubt it," Lilac muttered to herself.

"What was that?" Ruben asked.

"Nothing," Lilac sighed.

"It's can't be nothing if you said something, c'mon, care to share the secret with me?" he raised an eyebrow, smiling slightly.

"No, it's nothing," Lilac said.

Ruben shrugged and began to pour her a glass of tequila.

"Go on, one drink won't hurt, it'll help you forget him," Ruben grinned as Lilac eyed the small glass sceptically.

"Alright…"


	9. Chapter 9- Broken

"Kira!" Lily called out, "This isn't funny young lady! Come here right this instant!"

But, little did she know, Kira wasn't even in the manor, she was somewhere she'd only ever been once and had been told never to come to again.

… She was talking to the prisoner…

* * *

"Hello?" Kira called out into the jungle nervously as she padded around in her lion form, looking around for any signs of her uncle.

Instantaneously he appeared in front of her, mismatched eyes glowing with animalistic tendencies and urges.

Right now he was hungry and the only thing on the menu right now was raw lion cub…

A ripping growl rumbled from his chest and he bared his straight, human teeth.

"Uncle Jack?" Kira cowered in a small ditch by the base of a tree.

Her only reply was a snarl.

"UNCLE JACK!" she cried, frightened of the behaviour her uncle was exhibiting.

Suddenly her father's voice filled her head.

_Kira? Where are you?_

"Daddy?" Kira looked around frantically for her father.

_What's wrong? _the voice sounded worried.

"Help me!"

_Where are you, Kira?_

"I'm in the jungle!"

_Jungle... Wait there!_

"Daddy? DADDY!" Kira cried.

"KIRA!" someone roared from far away.

"Daddy!" Kira screamed as she heard the unmistakeable thud of her father's large paws hitting the lush, green earth.

Within a second of hearing that voice Jack was gone, he knew the owner was much bigger than he was, he had no chance of fighting the lion over his young so he left, the cub wasn't worth much anyway.

* * *

"Kira!" Cale yelled as he found the shaking cub, running over to her and picking her up in his jaws.

"Daddy!" Kira cried.

"Where were you _doing_ in here?" Cale asked, relieved that she was alright.

"I came to find Uncle Jack."

"Why?"

Kira didn't answer and instead of asking further Cale disapperated, taking her with him, going back to the manor where he'd left Mikayla.

* * *

"Kira!" Lily cried as Cale walked into the living room, carrying the shaking cub.

"She's alright, Tiger Lily, just a bit shaken up from her encounter with Jack," Cale said sternly.

"What?" Lily shrilled, making Kira wince.

"She's lucky I got there when I did," Cale scowled as he put Kira down on the couch next to Mikayla who was trying not to snicker or smirk at her twin.

"I'm sorry, I was only curious," Kira said in a small voice.

"You're alright, that's all that matters at the moment," Cale breathed.

"No, it's not, Cale! You could've been killed! Do you know what that would've done to this family? We're in a precarious situation already and I don't need ano-a death pushing everyone over the edge!" Lily shrilled.

"Lily! Calm down!" Cale glowered.

"No! I will not 'calm down', Cale! I'm struggling to persuade Aiden to stay, struggling to convince Zee to stop plotting Jack and your demises, struggling to keep this family together again!" Lily was now hysterical and Cale knew probably only one person could calm her down now.

* * *

"I came as quickly as I could, but you could've given me directions," James scowled as he burst through the door to the small living room.

"Never mind that, I need you to calm down Lily before she says something she shouldn't," Cale said seriously.

"… Are you insane?" James asked.

"No, you'll understand soon enough anyway, just calm her down!"

"How?"

Cale shrugged and leapt up onto the couch beside Mikayla, giving James a pointed stare.

The stare he got in return was of confusion and slight fear.

"Oh for Merlin's sake!" Cale said, frustrated, after James hadn't moved for about two minutes.

"Well I'm sorry if Lily kills me!"

"She won't! She doesn't even know who's speaking right now!"

"… You're sure?"

"I managed to get you out of that lake, you owe me," Cale scowled.

"But… _how_?"

"I don't know! Hug her or something! Pretend to be Aiden!"

"He would just stand there though!"

"You'd be surprised, when it comes to family he can be more than half decent."

James sent Cale a sceptical look, but all he received in return was a glare that made him shiver it was so icy.

After another minute of thinking something occurred to James.

Yes, he couldn't transform without Lily's help, but that didn't include his 'animagus' form, which was also Aiden's form.

So, quickly, he shifted to the stag and carefully moved over to Lily.

* * *

Lily didn't know what was going on other than her yellings of fear of losing her adopted family, but the moment she saw that blurry, dark brown form on four strong legs she latched her arms around its neck in desperate need of comfort.

She put no thought as to why it wasn't talking and instead bathed in the comfort the one-sided hug provided, letting it calm her until there was nothing left to calm.

* * *

"It's sickening isn't it?" Zee asked her scruffy reflection, "All that love," she spat out the word like a vomit flavoured Bertie Bott's, "It's disgusting. Lily denies herself the very thing. Lilac denies its existence for that stag though it is _**clearly**_ there. Cecilia is dead because of it. Aiden hates the very mention of it. Cale is destroyed due to _**'love'**_. James is open with his affections towards Lily, however unrequited they are. And _**Jack**_ hasn't the mind to appreciate it," she snarled.

**And what about you, Zee? What do you think of love?** the nasty inner voice asked her snottily.

"A waste of time, the death bringer, Voldemort kills because he has no love, people are killed because they love the 'wrong' people, love the wrong god, they die to save people or things they love, it's an absurd illusion. If we think someone loves us it gives us a feeling of false confidence, a stupid rush. It's why people cheat, they get bored of love or like," Zee glowered at her reflection.

**Are you calling what you once felt stupid?**

"Yes, I should never have fallen in love. It's for the weak minded and willed."

**Are you calling Cecilia weak?**

"No! That's not what I said!" Zee screeched.

**But you were thinking it. You think she is, sorry, **_**was**_**, weak for giving into love.**

"No, no, no!" Zee screamed at the mirror.

**You do, you do think she was weak!**

"NO!" Zee shrilled, ripping the mirror off of the wall and throwing it at the wall behind her.

"Hello? Zee?" there was a knock; the voice was clearly Oliver's.

"Go away!" Zee screamed at the door.

"Zee, what's wrong?" Oliver asked softly as he opened the door and poked his head in.

"Nothing! Go find Cale and his devil offspring! I'm sure they need help!"

"Zee," Oliver said soothingly as he wrapped his arms around her middle and pulled her in for a brotherly hug, which she desperately tried to pull away from… failing miserably.

"Now tell me what's going on."

"Death is everywhere, there's no escaping it, no hiding, no way out; it's already taken one of us, who knows how long until it strikes again? Will it be Lily? Maybe Cale? You? Max? Canis? Ziff? Sirius? Remus? James? Lilac? Marlene? Aiden?"

"As long as we stick together we'll be fine, you just need to let people back in, Zee."

"No I don't! That's what killed her! Letting people in killed her, Oliver!" Zee screeched, shoving him away successfully this time.

"No, she died because she was cursed or poisoned or whatever happened! Not because of Cale! Not because of love!"

"And what about Lilac and Lily? The same thing is going to happen to them, to me, eventually! There's nothing we can do, Oliver! We're never going to get the chance to take care of our own children because we will **die** giving birth to them! You don't know how you're going to die!" Zee screamed before she fled the room, leaving Oliver in his thoughts.

* * *

"Kira, Mikayla," Cale called softly as he walked into his daughters' room, still in lion form.

"Here, daddy," Mikayla said from their small pile of blankets.

Cale walked over slowly until he was standing next to them, managing to shut the door silently as he did so.

"What are you two still doing up?" he asked quietly, nuzzling them briefly.

"Kira wanted mummy," Mikayla said and Cale felt his heart start to crack all over again.

"What've I told you about your mother? She works later then you should ever stay up," he sighed.

"I know, but, and be honest, please, when have we ever seen her?" Mikayla asked quietly.

"… When you were smaller she was the one who took care of you, not me, you wouldn't remember, it was many months ago," Cale said sadly.

"Daddy… when was the last time _you_ ever saw mummy?"

"I saw her the day Uncle Sirius had his accident," this wasn't technically a lie; she just couldn't see or hear him.

"That was ages ago."

"She's been on a very important mission and hasn't been able to come home since then."

"Okay," Mikayla put her head down and shut her eyes, ready for sleep.

"… She's okay… isn't she?" Kira asked fearfully.

"Of course, nothing can hurt her while I'm alive," Cale smiled sadly.

Kira smiled shakily to herself.

"I know you'd never lie to us, daddy."

Cale heart didn't just crack this time… it broke into three.

"Of course I wouldn't," he smiled brokenly before he lay down and wrapped his body around the blankets, pulling Kira and Mikayla into an enclosed circle.

They pressed themselves against his warm body, Mikayla for extra comfort, Kira desperate for reassurance.

Through their differences there was one major thing that Kira and Mikayla had in common, their father.

Without him neither of them would even be there.

But sometimes he worried them, he said that the almost year-long separation from the rest of the family was so they wouldn't be corrupted by their uncles and aunts, but even Kira was certain that wasn't the real reason; as far as they'd seen there was nothing that bad about them, other than Aiden's dark and angry nature, nothing at all.

* * *

As Kira and Mikayla dozed off all Cale could do was to look at them.

They were so small, so fragile, so much like Cecilia.

In a perfect world it wouldn't be just him caring for them, it would be his wife as well.

In a perfect world she'd be lying with them, not six feet under a kilometre away in a lush forest.

In a perfect world she'd be there to kiss them goodnight, to tell them tales, to reassure them when they were scared, to help them, to care for them, to hold them, to love them… to love him…

But this wasn't a perfect world.

Cecilia wasn't there, Cale was left alone to kiss them goodnight, to tell them tales, to reassure them when they were scared, to help them, to care for them, to hold them, to love them… to lie to them about their mother's existence…

So there he lay, not alone, not lonely, but a half of who he was, a half of his life, the only surviving half of his love.

"Zee was right," Cale whispered into the darkness, blinking back tears, "It's my fault she's dead, without me she'd still be here, if she hadn't've met me this wouldn't've happened, she would be living a happy life with someone else," Cale knew this was a lie, no one could be truly happy with their love if they weren't with their soul-mate.

Lily would recognise this fact soon enough, bringing the final stage of the end to their strange family.

As he stared out the window, wishing for redemption and for another chance, there was a shift in his little circle of safety.

"Daddy?" Kira whispered.

"What is it Kira?" he asked gently, looking at his youngest daughter softly.

"When will we see mummy again?" she asked with wide, wet eyes.

"… I don't know, but don't worry about your mother, she can take care of herself," Cale reassured her.

A tear trickled down Kira's cheek.

"Why can't she come home?" she cried.

"Kira, shh, you'll wake your sister."

"… Didn't she want us?" Kira asked in a small, fragile voice.

"Wha- No! Of course she wanted you."

"Then why isn't she here?" Kira wept.

"She's working, Kira, her job's very demanding, that's why most of the time she'd never with us."

"Doesn't she ever get a day off? I don't even know what she looks like, dad!"

"I've told you Kira, she looks exactly like Mikayla, but older," Cale sighed.

"I want mum!" Kira cried.

"Do you want her or need her?"

"I need her!"

"You're not the only one, Kira," Cale said stonily before he lay his head down and stubbornly closed his eyes.

"Dad! Daddy!" Kira pushed on his head with her tiny paws as hard as she could.

"Go back to sleep Kira," Cale said monotonously.

After a few more fruitless shoves Kira gave up and lay back down.

Cale cracked an eye open and looked at his daughters sadly.

He hated it when they fought, either with him or with each other.

They were all he had left of his little Cecilia.


	10. Chapter 10- Losing Control

When Lilac woke up she felt the familiar breaking of her heart; dreaming healed it through the night; reality broke it the moment she woke up.

But, even with this terrible affliction of the heart, there was a ray of light.

Yes, she wasn't supposed to be consorting romantically with anyone other than her matching soul piece, but yet, she found herself wishing for his company.

Quickly Lilac shook this thought away at the moment her door took a beating from a rather pissed fist; it didn't take a genius to guess who was knocking on – or rather trying to break down – her door, and she couldn't help the small bubbling of hope that she wouldn't be received with a glare this morning.

But when was she ever right about affairs of the heart?

The glare she was given upon opening the door was one so icy she almost flinched, _almost_; instead she put her walls up and regarded him with a set of narrowed eyes and a sneer.

"What do you want?" she broke the silence.

"I don't want anything, Lily wants you," Aiden sneered before he stormed off.

"… WHERE?" Lilac yelled after him after a moment of shock.

She received no reply other than another glare.

"Why? Of all people, why him?" Lilac sighed before she ducked back into her room to change.

* * *

Cale woke up slowly, head moving to his left and his front left paw reaching out to something that wasn't there.

The moment neither his head or paw connected with anything Cale opened his weary, empty, brown eyes and stood up, looking down on his daughters, nudging them awake with his snout.

"Five more minutes," Kira groaned, rolling over.

Cale chuckled softly before he stood up, stretched his legs in the late morning sun and left silently.

He wandered aimlessly through the corridors for about half an hour, letting his feet take him wherever they pleased, but, eventually, they stopped outside a familiar door.

He stood there for a few minutes, debating whether or not to enter.

After much deliberation and hesitation he carefully pushed the door handle down and pushed his body through the doorway, the smell of wood, polish and a variety or other things instantly hitting his large nostrils.

Cale took a deep breath through his nose and walked completely inside, shutting the door behind him quietly.

He stood in the middle of the room, eyes focused on the one prized object in front of him…

He questioned himself for a second before giving up and morphing back, enabling him to pick up the guitar properly.

It was clearly left untouched, as we all the other instruments in the room.

In fact, the room itself seemed to not have been entered at all during his absence.

He ran his fingertips along the lengths of the nylon strings, making the slightest hum throughout the body.

Without completely knowing what he was doing Cale walked over and sat down on the black block by the large window, crossing his legs.

The view from this window was not of forest or jungle, but of the rather expansive backyard and horizon, at night, Cale reminisced, this was the best view, other than outside or on the roof of course.

Again, without complete consciousness, and with his eyes closed, Cale started to strum and sing quietly.

"_Well I came home, like a stone,_

"_And I fell heavy, into your arms,_

"_These days of dust, which we have known,_

"_Will blow away, with this new sun._"

"_But I'll kneel down, wait for now,_

"_And I'll kneel down, know my ground._"

"_And I will wait, I will wait for you,_

"_And I will wait, I will wait for you._"

"_So break my step, and relent,_

"_Well you forgave, and I won't forget,_

"_Know what we've seen, and him with less,_

"_Now in some way, shake the excess._

"'_Cause I will wait, I will wait for you,_

"_And I will wait, I will wait for you,_

"_And I will wait, I will wait for you,_

"_And I will wait, I will wait for you,_

"_Now I'll be bold, as well as strong_

"_And use my head, alongside my heart,_

"_So tame my flesh, and fix my eyes,_

"_A tethered mind, freed from lies._"

"_And I'll kneel down, wait for now,_

"_I'll kneel down, know my ground._"

"_Raise my hands, paint my spirit gold,_

"_And bow my head, keep my heart slow._"

"'_Cause I will wait, I will wait for you,_

"_And I will wait, I will wait for you,_

"_And I will wait, I will wait for you,_

"_And I will wait, I will wait for you..._"

His fingers hovered over the still vibrating strings, as if about to play again.

After the humming of the strings stopped Cale let out a deep sigh, hanging his head, thinking of his forever gone bride.

But, as always, his sadness was interrupted by someone, though, this person wasn't one of the expected few.

* * *

"Lilac," Cale sighed, "What do you want from me? To insult me? To blame me? Because you don't have to, I know it was my fault," he said tiredly.

"No, I actually came here to ask for your advice," she said in a quiet voice.

Cale snorted his disbelief and Lilac sighed.

"I know I haven't been all too kind to you in the past," Cale snorted at this, "but I'm being serious, I need your help," she sighed.

"Do you truly need it? Or do you just excessively want it?" he asked without looking at her.

"… I do need it," she said after a moment of thought.

"Alright then," Cale sighed after giving her mind a slight once over.

"Well… say you-"

"We're not talking about me."

"Fine, say _I_ kind of, maybe, just a teeny, _tiny_ bit, supposedly liked someone that I shouldn't… how should I react to that?" she asked anxiously.

"Is it because they don't like you or because they _do_?" Cale finally turned his head and raised an eyebrow at her calmly.

"Both, actually," Lilac mumbled, partly ashamed, mostly embarrassed.

"… I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that Lilac, all I can tell you is that those marks are there for a reason, though whether or not you choose to recognise that reason is up to you."

"That's it? Cale!" she scowled.

"What?"

"You're supposed to know about this stuff!"

"Why?"

"Well, you know, Cecilia," she stumbled.

"Just because I've had my chance doesn't mean I know everything," he muttered.

"But there's got to be something you can tell me!" she practically pleaded and eventually Cale gave in.

"Fine, if you do choose Aiden you have to have patience, he won't accept you for awhile, but don't give up, even if he doesn't realise it, you're all he has," Cale smiled sadly.

"… What about the others?" Lilac asked curiously.

"But without you there's something missing, something even Aiden needs. True soul mates are rare these days, we've been given that privilege, _all _he needs is you, Lilac, and he'll realise that some day."

"When?"

"If not before then, the day Lily, or possibly Zee, dies, I can't tell you when he'll change his mind, but, as I keep telling you, he needs time."

"Time for what?"

"Time to sort himself out, you know he has something wrong with him, he knows it too, and he's trying to fix it, to figure out what it is that messed with his mind."

* * *

Aiden stood on the roof, frozen and completely silent, surveying the area in front of him with a professional's eye, looking for anything needing investigation.

He'd been there since he woke Lilac up, about two and a half hours ago, and he hadn't spotted anything yet, at the three-hour mark he decided he was going to go inside.

He never strayed from his self-given duty, he never did from any duty; he stayed up the whole six days and nights to guard the sanctuary that held Lily while she was in suspended animation.

No matter what he finished what he started and did as he was told, nothing could distract him from what needed to be done.

But, just as he was about to leave, something in the forest caught his eye, a blur of dirty yellow.

He cocked an eyebrow and quickly apperated to the edge of the forest to check it out.

There is was again seconds later, about 50 metres away from him, moving through the forest to the other side of the manor, Aiden immediately gave chase.

The creature was fast, he had to give it that, and, despite its colouration, was extremely stealthy, resulting in Aiden having to stop to find it a couple of times before restarting the chase the second he did.

After about ten minutes he caught up to it, smashing it into the nearest tree with his antlers.

He heard the splintering of wood and skidded to a stop only metres away from the unmoving creature, the only sign that it was still alive was the slow rise and fall of its chest.

Upon closer inspection Aiden saw that it wasn't just any creature, but a small, and considerably filthy, lioness.

He moved around to its face and calmly took in all the marks and scars, some, he noted, were just wrinkles from where her face had stayed too long in a growl or sneer.

Though he didn't notice the slow opening of her eyes and was only aware she was awake when an evil, animalistic growl rumbled from within her.

His eyes snapped to her's and the moment they connected Aiden's knees buckled.

Those eyes…

"No, no, not now!" Aiden roared as he felt the ripping feeling in his brain.

The eyes he'd been dreaming of were staring at him now, cold, unforgiving black pits of darkness.

"Cale… NO!"

* * *

"Cale?" Lily asked worriedly as her youngest brother grabbed the back of his neck in blistering pain, almost falling off of his seat.

"Aiden… LILAC!" Cale yelled.

Moments later Lilac appeared in the doorway, looking beyond scared.

"Find Aiden, quickly!"

Seeing the look in his eyes Lilac nodded and left immediately, hoping to find Aiden in time.

"What's going on?" Marlene yawned as she walked into the kitchen sleepily.

"Go find the twins and stay in their room! Do not leave! Do you hear me? Do **not** leave until I or someone else comes to get you!" Lily said frantically.

Marlene nodded, frightened slightly, and did as Lily said.

Lily watched in horror as Cale's eyes started to dilate, his claws ripped themselves out of his fingertips and grew, jagged and long, as did his teeth until his jaw was unable to close without injury.

She'd never seen Cale lose control before, Aiden, yes, but Cale, that was something she thought she'd never have to, nor did she ever want to.

"Don't, Cale!" Lily cried.

"I'm sorry, Lily," Cale whispered tightly in pained.

"You can't, Cale, we might not get you back!" Lily wept as she lunged at Cale and wrapped her arms around his middle.

"Let go, Lily! Get out before I hurt you!" Cale said desperately as he shoved her away.

"No! No! I won't leave you!"

"There's nothing you can do! The only one able to defuse it is dead!"

"But her descendants aren't," Lily whispered in realisation before she disapperated, reappearing moments later with Kira and Mikayla in her arms.

"Daddy!" they shrieked in shock and horror.

"What's happening to daddy?" Mikayla cried.

"Nothing's going on, take them back to their room, Lily!" Cale ordered with a harsh tone, one Kira and Mikayla had never heard their father use towards _anybody_.

Lily shook her head and instead walked towards him, placing Kira and Mikayla in his lap, tears in her eyes.

"DADDY!" they cried as they saw the blood running down his neck from the wounds he'd given himself accidentally with his growing claws.

"Don't!" Mikayla screamed at her father, tears running down her face.

"STOP IT!"

All it took was those two words yelled from Kira.

Those two little words, those six letters ended the fight between Cale and the monster…

Lily watched on in horror as the monster within took over.

"NO!" she shrieked, snatching the two children away from Cale before sprinting from the room, away from the monster stealing her brother away from her.

* * *

"Aiden? AIDEN!" Lilac screamed as she ran to the writhing stag.

"What are you doing here? Help Cale!" Aiden roared.

"No! You need help as much as he does!"

"No! He's not strong enough!"

"And you are?" Lilac screamed.

"He doesn't have Cecilia anymore, Lilac, no one can save him once he's gone," Aiden's eyes flew open and moved to look at Lilac with such intensity she almost had to look away.

"Then what'll I be able to do? Better to have saved one than have killed both," her voice broke on the last word, tears building up behind her eyes.

"And that one should be Cale, not me, GO!" he roared as a sharp pain hit the nape of his neck.

"But how do I save him?" Lilac cried.

"Tell Lily to put him in suspended animation, that'll give him more time to fight the monster, now GO!"

Lilac took one last look at Aiden's struggling form before she disapperated back to the kitchen; little did she know that was where the worst awaited.

* * *

"What's going on, Aunty Lily?" Kira asked tearfully.

"I'll explain when everyone's safe, for now we need to get everyone into the basement," Lily said through her tears.

"CODE BLACK! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!" Lily screamed into her wand as she reached the basement and safely locked the twins inside.

Within mere moments Zee, Oliver, Ziff, Max and Canis appeared in front of her.

"Find the others and bring them here!"

"Yes, ma'am!" they answered firmly before disapperating, reappearing moments later with James, Sirius, Marlene and Remus.

"What's wrong Lily?" Remus asked.

"I'll explain later! Just get in the basement and arm yourselves! Protect them at any cost!" she said the last part to Canis and Ziff.

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Lily!" Lilac shrieked, as she appeared around the corner, distraught and terrified as she ran towards them.

"Lilac! What happened?" Lily asked fearfully.

"He told me to save C, but I was too late," Lilac wept silently.

A snarl could be heard from the floor above them, coupled with four, large and heavy foot falls.

"Where did you apperate to, Lilac?" Lily demanded.

"The kitchen."

"Get in… GET IN!" Lily screamed when no one moved.

Instantly Ziff, Canis, Sirius, Marlene, Remus and James darted in.

"Whatever the cost you are to protect the people inside this basement, I don't care if you have to nearly kill him, you protect everyone, and do **not** let them see him!" Lily said firmly before she slammed the door shut and bolted it.

"Alright you four, we've got a monster to beat the shit out of, Lilac, what did Aiden tell you?" Lily barked.

"Suspended animation still might be able to save him."

"We need Potter for that."

"I know," Lilac gulped gravely.

"… Shrink him and I'll take it from there," Lily said as she unbolted the door, only to be met by the end of two pistols.

"I need Potter," Lily said calmly.

"You're not sending my best mate in to get killed!" Sirius roared instantly.

"He's the only one who can fix this, Sirius," Zee cut in calmly, "And we'll make sure he doesn't die, I would make an Unbreakable Vow, but what's the point? If I break it I die and we all know how we're going to die, it won't be because of his death," she said snidely.

"Zee," Lily narrowed her eyes and Zee scoffed before turning away from the scene.

"Please James," Lilac whispered almost too quietly to be heard.

James froze in shock for a moment, the first one to call him by his first name was _Lilac_, not Zee or Lily, but _Lilac_, the one who seemed to hate everybody and everything.

With a gulp he nodded and moved out from behind Canis and Ziff, pistols still raised, and walked over to Lily, Lilac, Zee, Max and Oliver; they all sent him sad, apologetic smiles.

The moment before the door slammed and bolted itself James saw Ziff and Canis salute them with tears in their eyes, as if they knew this could be the last time they saw their other thirds and family alive, or at all.

"Alright, Lilac," Lily nodded and Lilac smiled grimly at James as she shrank him and picked him up, handing him to Lily who put him on her shoulder.

"You're a very brave man, James," Lilac smiled sadly before she transformed, not into a doe, but a golden lioness, with Zee's assistance.

Seconds later they were all standing in animal form, Lily a large tiger and Zee an average sized wolverine with claws and teeth made out of, what looked like to James, sharply cut diamond.

"You all know what to do, get him immobilised and we'll go, unconscious isn't allowed, he must be conscious to be able to go into suspended animation, if you care about this family, I suggest you do this correctly," Lily sent Zee a pointed look, but the wolverine didn't waver.

"Do not split unless I say! We stay together no matter what unless I say otherwise! Do you understand me?" Lily demanded.

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Good!" Lily barked before she muttered "Hold on," to James and sprinted off down the corridor, the others in close pursuit.

* * *

"Uncle Canis?" Kira asked her uncle fearfully.

"Yes Kira?" Canis answered tensely, eyes still trained on the bolted door.

"What's happening to daddy?"

"Ziff?" Canis asked.

Ziff nodded and handed Canis his pistol before he sat down next to his two nieces.

"Your father and uncle aren't exactly normal; they've always been, how should I put this… different."

"What about Uncle Jack?" Mikayla asked.

"All pieces of the shape-shifter are meant to come out at nearly exactly the same time, this wasn't the case with Cale, Aiden and Jack," Ziff shook his head.

"Jack appeared when James was seven, two years before Cecilia, Lilac and Zee did, he'd been living on his own out in the Q-Head's Forest when they spotted him and took him in. Cale, Aiden and Jack are six whole _years_ apart from each other," Canis interrupted.

"And what happened?" Marlene asked quietly.

"No one is entirely sure, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out that something goes wrong when you're trapped for six years, unable to escape, unable to be free while one of your kin is," Ziff said quietly.

"Cale's never lost control of the monster before, we never thought he would. Aiden, on the other hand, could never control it and we'd always have to send out Lilac to fix it," Canis sighed.

"Why Lilac? Why not someone else?" Marlene asked curiously.

"Until Lily's ready to admit it we're not allowed to say," Ziff sighed tiredly.

"Admit what?" Marlene asked.

"Nothing," Canis whispered sadly.

* * *

Aiden sat on the forest floor, in full human form, concentrating all his energy and sanity into beating the thing threatening to overrun his brain and body.

He knew Cale was gone, and that only he, James or Jack could save him now, though it was only Aiden with the capabilities to do so.

It was strange, fending it off, for one, it was a lot easier than he thought it was, the thing's power was fading and within five minutes he'd managed to get enough sanity back so he was able to transform, and with another ten the thing was as good as gone, this was the time he came to the realisation and disapperated.

* * *

There was a crack from behind them and Ziff and Canis instantly spun around and pointed their pistols at the new arrival who had his hands up and a steely look in his eye.

They eyed him shiftily and Aiden spoke.

"Lily can't do it. James doesn't have the capability. I'm the only one who can save him now," he said firmly.

"Sorry, we're going to need more proof than that," Canis narrowed his eyes.

"What more do you want?" Aiden gritted his teeth.

"Seven, five, one, zero, three, five," Ziff recited calmly.

"Six, four, two, eleven, five," Aiden said snidely.

"Alright, you seem sane enough," Canis said as he and Ziff lowered their pistols.

"Thank you," Aiden snapped before he put his arms down and stalked over to a cupboard on the far wall, flinging the doors open to reveal a single handheld gun.

Aiden grabbed the gun quickly and pulled out the drawer underneath the stand, pulling out two silver bullets, one crystalline bullet and three tranquilizer darts, stashing them in a metal box that he attached to his hip.

"What're you doing?" Canis asked.

"I figured it out," Aiden muttered.

"Figured what out?" Remus asked.

"Figured out what's going on. Due to all the stress Cale's been under the monster got stronger, feeding off his pain and misery, so, when he finally lost it, the monster let me go in favour of fully taking over Cale, and, if I'm completely correct, Jack should be sane soon," Aiden muttered loudly as he loaded the gun with the silver bullets, "But we haven't got the time for checking Jack, we need to move, it hasn't completed the exchange so we've still got time, suspended animation will just worsen it, while the monster hasn't fully overtaken, Cale's still not there. It needs to be subdued, I calculated that two silver bullets will wound both the creature _and_ Cale, but if someone fires a tranquilizer then the enchanted crystalline bullet then the last tranquilizer, the third being a reserve, all after the silver bullets, in that precise order it'll only hurt the monster, not Cale. The monster'll faint and Cale will return, hopefully with more than enough will power and strength to overthrow it, but it needs to be _**exactly**_ in that order, not any other way."

"Why are you telling us this?" Canis asked.

"Because, there's one thing I'm not quite sure of."

"Which is?" Ziff cocked an eyebrow.

"Whether or not it'll try and latch onto me."

"So what? What's going to happen? Because we sure as hell can't leave this lot here," Canis sighed.

"… I'll stay," Aiden muttered, "I could easily take him if he manages to get down here and break down the door."

"Silver, tranq, crystal, tranq? Third only a reserve?"

"Yes, in that exact order," Aiden said seriously.

"Alright, we'll be back soon," Canis said to the others as Aiden handed over the gun and metal bullet case.

"Good luck," Aiden said.

Canis and Ziff cracked small, grim, smiles in return before they disapperated.

* * *

"Great, now we're stuck with Uncle Aiden," Kira muttered to Mikayla.

"Hey, he's not that bad, he just has a small… abnormality," Mikayla defended her uncle quietly.

"I _can_ hear you talking about me," Aiden turned around and narrowed his eyes at the twins.

Kira scowled at him and Aiden snarled.

"Listen kid, I know I have some sort of mental deficiency, but you don't know anything about me. I know I'm not as perfect as your bloody father, alright? So there's no need to tell me how imperfect, problematic, psychotic and screwed up I am!" Aiden snapped.

"We never said-" Mikayla started but Aiden cut her off snidely.

"You were thinking it, don't even try to deny it. It doesn't take a genius to guess that people hate you."

"We don't-" Mikayla started, again, Aiden cut her off.

"Don't bother, you're not the only ones, everyone hates me, from the first glance they assume that I'm some sort of convict, maniac, psychopath, madman… and who's to say they're wrong?"

* * *

"LILY! STOP!" Canis roared as he and Ziff burst into the living room, where they had an almost completely taken over Cale backed into a corner, bleeding profusely.

"What're you doing in here?" Lily demanded.

"If you put him in suspended animation the monster'll win!" Ziff cried.

"Where'd you get this from?" Lilac asked.

"Aiden told us. He's sane! He said we needed to shoot him with two silver bullets, two tranquilizers and an enchanted crystal bullet!" Canis said hurriedly.

"I'm not-"

"Trust us! Trust Aiden," Canis said firmly as he fumbled with the latch on the metal bullet case, before poising the gun in front of him, aiming at Cale.

As he stared at the monster lion he began to lose his nerve, he couldn't shoot his brother, not even like this.

"I-I can't," Canis stammered, dropping his arms.

"I'll do it," Ziff said quickly.

Canis handed him the gun and as soon as the cold metal touched his fingertips Ziff felt his nerve leaving him too.

"I'll do it!" Lily roared, transforming and taking the gun from Ziff's hands before firing them at Cale's hide.

The monster roared in rage and lunged out at Lily, Max and Oliver stopping it just in time.

"One tranq next!"

Lily quickly loaded the tranquilizer, with a little difficulty, and fired it at the monster's stomach.

"Crystal!"

She did the same and fired the crystalline bullet in the monster's back leg.

"Final tranq and then Cale should start to turn back!"

Lily loaded the final dart and with a caution that wasn't existent before she aimed the dart at the monster's shoulder, firing the shot with an almighty 'BOOM!'

…

"CALE!"


End file.
